Frozen: The Winter Solstice
by imabench
Summary: At one of Elsa's many royal parties, a dignitary from a far away kingdom comes and begs for Elsa to save his kingdom from a rebel with ice powers who who calls himself 'The Ice King'. The rebel has plunged the distant kingdom into an eternal winter, but not all is as it appears to be, and Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf soon find themselves in greater danger than they bargained for.
1. Chapter 1: Premise

"Now? Should I start now?" - Narrator. "Okay, once upon a time, there was a young couple whose names were Eric and Eren. One day, Eric asked for Eren's hand in marriage, and she accepted. Just before their wedding, the couple were crossing the mountains because Eren wanted to get married in her hometown…..… But they never made it…..….. While in the mountains, the worst blizzard in a hundred years descended on their travel party. Everyone perished, and Eren and Eric died in each others arms."

"When they died though, something curious happened. Something, _magical_... The souls of Eren and Eric took on a magical form and were carried away by the winds of the blizzard far, far away from their former bodies, and after a while, away from each other. Each soul wound up in someone else, a host, and the souls of Eren and Eric eventually became part of the souls of the hosts themselves. As a result, these hosts were granted powers of ice and snow, but also caused hosts to be easily fearful of their ice powers, of other people, and of themselves. Only when the two former souls were together again could the hosts that carry them be truly at peace."

"Eren's soul ended up in Elsa, The queen of Arendelle, whose story we are all pretty familiar with. Eric's soul on the other hand ended up in someone else, someone with a very, _very_ different life story. But we'll come back to that later."

"In Arendelle, it has been just about a year since the gang saved Arendelle from an eternal winter, and for a while, all was well. Elsa now had full control over her powers and finally felt free, Anna got her sister back and found the love of her life, and Kristoff finally felt like he was part of a family that weren't part rock."

"After a while though, things began to change... Word got out across the globe that a beautiful queen with mighty powers of ice and snow was ruling a very powerful kingdom without a spouse, causing every ruling family within a thousand miles to send their sons off to Arendelle in an attempt to woo and marry her. Elsa soon became preoccupied with entertaining, and turning down, all these diplomats who suddenly became infatuated with winning her heart, which, though flattering at first, quickly became a constant nuisance to Elsa. Anna meanwhile didn't get to be as close to her sister as she wanted, since Elsa was almost always tangled up in meetings with foreign dignitaries or was locked away in her chambers attending to queenly paperwork. Kristoff meanwhile, who has since moved into the palace with Anna at her request, quickly began to miss the life of being an adventurous mountain-man who regularly got in and out of tight situations."

"It seemed that everything Anna finally wanted was beginning to slip away, but then everything changed on one September night"


	2. Chapter 2: Diplomacy

"Kristoff, PSSST! KRISTOFF! wake up, Wake up, WAKE UP!"

"Anna, go back to sleep" - Kristoff

"No silly goose, it's me, Olaf! Now come on and wake up, you got stuff to do!" - Olaf

"I'm pretty sure I _don't_ have anything to do today Olaf…" - Kristoff

"Yes you do silly, you have to get ready for the big party!" - Olaf

"That's _tomorrow_ Olaf….." - Kristoff

"No, its _today, _i'm like ninety-nine point nine nine nine nine nine nine nine nine…." - Olaf

"OLAF" - Kristoff finally yelled as he sat up in his bed. The sunlight poured in through the window into his room, which had a variety of clothes, boots, coats, socks, and even undies lying all around in a disorganized mess. Kristoff was given his own room in the palace as part of a birthday gift from Anna and Elsa several months ago, but he never really got the hang of keeping things 'tidy'. Kristoff stretched profusely before finally getting out of bed, he hadn't gotten a good sleep like that in a LONG time.

"You know if you didn't sneak out at night to do all that mysterious mountain-man stuff, you would probably get a lot more sleep." - Olaf

"I get plenty of sleep Olaf" - Kristoff

"Uh-huh, so then how come you've been sleeping for 2 and a half days straight?" - Olaf said with a smirk

"What? I've been asleep for TWO DAYS?" - Kristoff

"Did I say that? No, no, no… You've been asleep for two and a HALF days" - Olaf

"Olaf, its your job to wake me up in the morning! Why didn't you wake me up yesterday?" Kristoff looked at the clock in his room out of the corner of his eye. "Its 4 PM!, why didn't you wake me up THIS MORNING?" - Kristoff

"I didn't want to disturb you, you were sleeping…." Olaf sniffs the room. "Is Sven living in here with you?"

"Olaf, When does the party start?" - Kristoff

"Uhh lets see. Its about 4 o'clock, which means it starts in….…(counts his fingers)… 30 minutes ago" - Olaf

"UGH!" Kristoff leaped out of bed and fell on the floor, tripping on the mess of clothes all over the floor.

"You know you may wanna think about cleaning this place up more frequently, or at least kinda mosh everything into one corner of the room" - Olaf

"We can worry about that later Olaf, we gotta get to the party! Anna is actually making me go to this one" - Kristoff

This was the first time that Anna was _making him_ go to one of Elsa's parties, which he avoided like the plague after the very first one he attended. Elsa's parties with foreign dignitaries were composed entirely of brainless suitors who were either too weakly or skinny to even hold themselves up, or were too thick-headed and elitist to think of themselves as anything less than 'perfect-husband-material' who couldn't take no from Elsa as an answer. Kristoff hated just about everything about them, but Anna was making him go to this one because she really wanted Kristoff to start attending parties regularly so that she would have a friend during the parties, since Elsa would always become preoccupied with negotiations with the party guests.

"Hey look Kristoff! I see carpet on your floor! I didn't know you had carpet in here!… I don't even think I've SEEN the carpet in your room before" - Olaf

"You can examine it later, lets go Olaf" Kristoff and Olaf hurried out the door to the party

* * *

><p>Anna made her way through the crowd with wonder and awe like she has at every party. Even though she didn't get to spend much one-on-one time with her sister, Anna still enjoyed nothing more then finding the most awkward and fun-loving prince or princess in the room, and spending the whole night talking with them while hijacking the dessert table. She saw Kristoff enter the room wearing his suit and she almost laughed. Kristoff had to borrow one of her father's old suits for the party since he didn't own any fancy suits himself before moving in, and the one he was wearing to the party tonight was comically too tight. The shirt looked like it was about to burst into shreds at any second while his pants looked like it was suffocating his 'honest goods'<p>

She weaved her way through the crowd towards Kristoff and before he could even spot her, she had engulfed him in a gleeful bear hug .

"Kristoff!…. You look, GREAT" she said while fighting back several laughs.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up, sorry I was late" - Kristoff

"Where's Olaf?" - Anna

"He's out playing 'scarecrow' in the hidden courtyard as always". A magical talking snowman as eccentric as Olaf usually caused guests and diplomats to freak out, especially those who were very fearful of sorcery, so Elsa had him stay away from any and all parties in the palace by having him chase away birds in the private palace courtyard. It was a task that Elsa completely made up and said was 'of the utmost importance' that only Olaf was capable of doing. He bought it immediately, and everyone in the palace just plays along with it.

"Okay good. Now then, I've been looking for people you can socialize with and I found a few targets. That guy over there is from 'Belledale' who told me he can lift a reindeer with one hand, you might like him…. Over there is, uh, I forget his name, and where he's from, and what he sorta looks like, but, whatever, its not important, hes funny!….. And lastly, OH, him, that guy over there told me his favorite food is carrots, hes _definitely_ a winner" Anna pointed out every person as she talked about them, but Kristoff couldn't be any less interested in meeting any of them.

"Can't I just hang out with you and try to not look stupid? You know that I dont really fit in with _this_ kind of crowd" - Kristoff

"You don't look stupid and you are GOING to make friends. I want you to start to meet new people and make friends! You cant just go out and be an ice-man your whole life." - Anna

"One, its not ice-man its ice-HARVESTER, and two, I don't like meeting other people! Meeting other people means I actually have to like, _pretend to care about them and their stories_, which historically I dont like to do." - Kristoff

"Oh come on Kristoff, remember all the fun you had with Eugene when he and Rapunzel were here!" - Anna

"That was DIFFERENT, we had a lot in common! Eugene wasn't royalty at first either, and he didn't know his parents, and he was also adventurous! He did stuff like break laws and not bathe regularly which appeal to me since I also— " - Kristoff

"Kristoff, what have I told you about bathing regularly?" - Anna said with a disapproving frown.

One of Elsa's servants approached them. "Sir Kristoff and Princess Anna, Queen Elsa requests your presence"

Anna's face lit up, while Kristoff flinched. He absolutely hated being called _Sir_ Kristoff, it simply didn't sit well with him. Anna grabbed Kristoff by his arm and led him through the crowd as she made a bee-line for Elsa.

Elsa, beautiful as ever, was already exhausted, and her face showed it. Turning down suitor after suitor completely sapped her energy, and she still had to keep it up for 3 more hours. The only way she made it through nights like these were the occasional breaks/pep-talks with Anna. Sometimes though, if Elsa was having a particular problem with a suitor or guest, she would introduce them to Anna and Anna would pretend to listen to whatever proposal they were relentlessly trying to get Elsa to accept and 'promise' the guests to convince Elsa to accept the proposal after the party ended. Anna was basically a heat shield for Elsa during parties, which she was perfectly okay with since nothing upset Anna more then stubborn men who were annoying her sister... Well, that and there being no chocolate at the end of the parties.

Anna and Kristoff finally reached the other side of the room where Elsa was sitting (she had given up standing up for the entire party awhile ago now). Elsa's face lit up in relief at the sight of Anna coming in to save her from yet another pushy client, and she started the routine that she and Anna had practiced in their off time.

"Sir, this is my sister, Princess Anna. She would love to memorize your proposal and remind me of it later once I've had some time to think it over." She said to the suitor with a smile. The gag was that Elsa would introduce Anna with the presumption that Anna was a close advisor to her, and then Anna would pretend to hear the guest's proposal or demands so that Elsa didn't have to waste any more precious energy on someone who cant take no for an answer.

This suitor causing Elsa some problems this time was scrawny. He could not have been taller than 5'7 or weighed more than 100 pounds. He was pale, looked ill, and a good sized gust of wind could probably sweep him up into the sky never to be seen again. The man's face though was almost eerily handsome. His bright brown eyes complimented his button sized nose, and he did have a smile that could woo any weak-willed woman. He looked as if you walked into a school and took the nerdiest, weakest looking kid, and gave him a face that would normally belong to the most popular kid in school.

"Hello, i'm Princess Anna, this is Kristoff, and you are?….." - Anna

"I a-am King Micheal of Houkkaville, a small but decent kingdom located a-ways east from here" - King Micheal

"Oh right, Houcacaville, I've heard…. great things about that place….?" - Kristoff said with a contorted smile

"Youve actually _heard_ of Houkkaville?" King Micheal said in glee. "Most people dont know about us! What great things have you heard?" he said as his eyes lit up

_This is why I dont like people_. "I uh, yes, Ive, heard that, its…. A great place to stop by?" - Kristoff muttered in confusion. He never was good at improvising in social situations, and Anna tried as hard as she possibly could to not burst out laughing. She couldn't help letting a smile creep across her face though.

"I'll be happy to hear your proposal, king" - Anna said as she led Micheal and Kristoff away from Elsa, who smiled back at Anna with a look of eternal thanks.

* * *

><p>Anna and Kristoff lured King Micheal into the hallway outside the mane ballroom to 'hear' his proposal. Anna and the teenage king chit-chatted for a bit while Kristoff's mind began to wander. He wished he could be out doing just about <em>anything else<em> at that moment. Something entertaining like, throwing acorns at squirrels who didn't know where they were coming from… Or throwing acorns at Olaf who didn't know where they were coming from….

Kristoff clicked back in when the King cleared his throat.

"Now, the proposal I had for the queen was a…. A very quick and very temporary m-military alliance to help me deal with a, slight, problem im having in my small kingdom." - King Micheal

"A, a military alliance?" - Anna asked in confusion. That was a new one. Usually the guests that Elsa handed-off to Anna wanted Elsa to accompany them to meet their parents or to tour their kingdoms or something ludicrous like that, but this king's proposal was just insanity.

"Y-yes. Well, no. Its more of a, er, its really hard to explain…." - King Micheal

"What does this have to do with Arendelle exactly?" - Anna

"Well, its not so much Arendelle that im interested in, its… Queen Elsa" - King Micheal

"Alright look bud, a _lot_ of guys come here trying to woo her and marry her to inherit the kingdom, she's not interested in any suitors at this time—" - Kristoff

"Kristoff shush!" - Anna

"Oh, no, oh, not that, no, thats, not what im here for." - King Micheal said looking both flustered and embarrassed at the same time. "Golly how do I explain it, umm….."

"Look, take some time to think about what it is you actually want Queen Elsa to do and then when you figure it out, you can let us know then, kay?" - Kristoff said

"Kristoff can I talk to you real quick" - Anna said sternly.

Before Kristoff could even reply or before King Micheal could clarify his proposal, Anna had pulled Kristoff around the corner and into another hallway to talk to him.

"Kristoff, what are you doing?" - Anna

"What?" - Kristoff

"You have to be nice to these people! These are foreign diplomats who have come a long way to make deals and proposals with Elsa" - Anna

"Oh come on, the guy is king of a place no one has heard of and he cant even spill the beans as to what he really wants or why hes even here" - Kristoff

"So then we just smile, say we'll think about it, and then go back to the party!" - Anna, she noticed something in Kristoff's face though, he looked as if he had too much on his mind. "Whats wrong Kristoff?"

"Nothing's wrong Anna I just… I dunno, these people…. You're right, im sorry"

"Wait, what about 'these people'...?" - Anna

"They all just, keep reminding me that I dont belong here Anna… I'm not royalty, and I wont be royalty. I cant stand being around those people who are only here to ask for favors and talk about playing sports Ive never even heard of, or even sound like sports in the first place. I'm not meant to live here in a royal palace with the rulers of Arendelle." - Kristoff

"Kristoff, you _do_ belong here. You're with me! You're my boyfriend, and since im royalty, that makes you royalty." - Anna

"No it doesn't Anna." - Kristoff

"Youre the Official Ice-master and Deliverer, that makes you royalty!" - Anna

"Anna…." Kristoff said with a sigh as he looked into her eyes. She was clearly upset that he thought he didn't belong in the palace, but he felt that he was right. "Look at me" he motioned towards his ill-fitting outfit. "I look and feel ridiculous in this!... I know nothing about royalty, or about being or acting royal, and I cant stand being around all those nerds out there just trying to get what they want by asking Elsa for favors." - Kristoff

"Kristoff I know this is a bit of a change for you…. Ok this is a BIG change for you, but you will get used to it if you try, I promise! You can learn to be and act royal, and to make friends with other royals, and to bathe regularly….." - Anna

"Anna dont you see? I dont WANT to be like those people out there!" - Kristoff said. He stormed off around the corner in frustration while Anna thought about what she said that might have upset him.

"Kristoff wait! Kristoff!" Anna said as she tried to chase him, but he was walking too fast for her to keep up with, especially since her heels were absolutely killing her feet… She watched Kristoff storm down the hallway off towards his room and she could only watch. King Micheal tried to get Ana's attention with his proposal, but she didn't even notice. _What just happened? What upset Kristoff? What could she do about it?_

_Elsa!_

* * *

><p>Anna made her way through the crowd over to Elsa. She knew that Elsa would know what to do. Anna simply kept going over and over in her head what she might have said that caused Kristoff to snap like that. She had known that Kristoff would occasionally sneak off during the night to go back into the mountains, but she never knew just how much Kristoff felt like an outsider in the palace, or how much Kristoff wanted to go back to his old life.<p>

She finally made her way up to Elsa, who looked just as exhausted as before. Elsa looked over at Anna's worried face as she made her way through the crowd, and she immediately knew something was wrong. Sisters always had a sixth sense when they knew something was wrong, and that was something Elsa and Anna had honed over the past few months.

Elsa was already on her feet when Anna made her way over to her. "Anna whats wrong?"

"Kristoff! he got really upset with me and just stormed off out of nowhere."

"What? Wh-why?" - Elsa stammered in disbelief.

"I dont even know! I was talking to the king of Hoopastank, or, whatever it was called, I dunno, when Kristoff told the guy to get it together since, the guy wasn't even making any sense. When I told him to relax though he told me that he doesn't like these people, that he didn't fit in, and then I…. Oh" - Anna

"What?" - Elsa

"I, _might,_ have also told him that he could learn to be royal and act royal… And then he said that he didn't want to be royal, and _thats_ when he stormed off" - Anna

"Oh boy. Is he still here, in the castle?" - Elsa

"I, I dunno. I think so, I hope so. Do you think he would actually _leave_?" - Anna said, becoming more and more worried with every question.

"Dont worry Anna, Kristoff is probably just, getting some fresh air to think things over or something." - Elsa said in a calm voice, trying to get Anna to relax

"Wh-what should I do then?" - Anna

"Let him think things over and let him simmer down, then you and I can both go talk to him together and figure this whole thing out." - Elsa

"Elsa you don't have to, you already look exhausted from dealing with all these other people antways!" - Anna

"Anna, i'm not going to shut you out. You're my sister, and i'm here for you, you know that." Elsa gave a reassuring smile that showed that she was dedicated to helping Anna as soon as she could, no matter how tired she may be.

The two sisters hugged, giving each other the will-power to make it to the end of the night.

"Now we just need to hang in there for about another hour and then we can fix this together. I'll keep chatting with our guests, you go reclaim the dessert table, okay?" Elsa said with a smile and a wink.


	3. Chapter 3: Cloudy Horizons

The party came to an end with no further incidents, and as Elsa thanked the last of the guests for coming, Anna nervously waited nearby, hoping that Kristoff hadn't run off before she and her sister could talk to him..… The sugar rush she had gotten from the leftover chocolate wasn't helping her stay calm, as her mind was going a mile a minute. _Would Kristoff simply leave the palace like that? Or is he just in his room sleeping? Maybe he's in the stable talking it out with Sven. What does he mean when he says he doesn't want to be royalty? What does this mean for….. us?_

The last guest made his way out of the door, and the guards began to close the doors behind them. Anna made a bee-line for Elsa, but Elsa already had a game-plan. Before Anna could even ask, Elsa pitched her plan to Anna.

"First thing we need to do is find Kristoff. Go get Olaf from the courtyard and have him help you search the palace. I'll go out and check the stables to see if he's there with Sven. If he's with Sven, I'll send a guard to come get you. If he isn't with Sven, then he's somewhere else. If he isn't there and neither is Sven, _then_ we'll know that Kristoff is up in town or in the mountains somewhere." - Elsa

"Okay… wait, so what do I do?" - Anna asked, not entirely remembering everything Elsa was telling her

"Go get Olaf…." - Elsa

"Right! Right, okay good plan! Break!" - Anna took off for the courtyard, while Elsa casually made her way towards the stables. _Everything will be okay, everything will be okay_. She thought that to herself over and over, trying to keep herself calm. The ice flowing through her veins seemed to be more and more easily flowing to her fingertips whenever she was feeling nervous. She didn't have an accident yet, but if it keeps getting worse, then she may have to consider wearing the gloves again….. Anna and Kristoff didn't know that this was happening, nor did anyone else. She just kept repeating the thought to herself over and over.

_Everything will be okay, everything will be okay_

She exited the main ballroom and turned around the corner into an alternate hallway. Rather then go out the main hallway and the main gate to the stables, she'll take a slight shortcut that would ensure she doesnt run into anyone on accident.

But as she turned down another corner, she was surprised. One of the guests was still in the castle, far from where the party was held and far away from where the rest of the guests exited the palace.

"Umm excuse me? Why are you here? The party ended some time ago…." Elsa called out to the guest. _How had he eluded the guards? Who was he? Why was he all the way over here?_

* * *

><p>Anna made her way out to the courtyard to get Olaf, who when she found him was running around like a madman. Well, mad <em>snow<em>man.

"Where are they coming from? What does this mean?" - Olaf yelled out in confusion, motioning to a bunch of small objects that were lying on the ground all around him.

Kristoff was sitting up in a tree tossing acorns at Olaf, who apparently had no idea where the acorns were coming from. Anna was instantly relieved to see that Kristoff hadn't run off to the mountains... Elsa was right, he only needed to get some fresh air to simmer down.

"Olaf, you okay?" Anna called out to him.

"Anna! Dont freak out or anything…. But I think the sky is falling!" - Olaf said trying to get Anna to remain calm.

"Uh, right….. Hey Olaf, why dont you go tell Elsa that, um, I found that thing I was looking for, and while you do that, I'll figure out why the sky is falling" - Anna said with a smile. You didnt need to be a skilled diplomat to get Olaf out of someplace.

"Thats a good idea! Elsa would _definitely_ know why the sky is falling…." - Olaf said, and he quickly waddled into the palace calling out for Elsa.

Anna shut the door behind him, and Kristoff slid down from the tree. They turned towards each other and paused. Anna held her hands behind her back since she still wasn't entirely sure what to do or what to say. After all, the plan was for her and Elsa to talk to Kristoff together, but it looks like she'll have to wing it until Elsa shows up

"Hey…. Feeling, better?" - Anna

Kristoff sat down by the tree and motioned for Anna to sit down next to him under the tree. "Better? I think so..." He didnt seem too convinced at his own words.

Anna sat down next to him and the both leaned up against the tree, Kristoff stared down at his feet while Anna's gaze was fixed on the stars that were beginning to come out now that it was night. Anna searched for any kind of inspiration for what to say, but she couldn't come up with anything, so she jumped to the point.

"Was it something I said? Cause if it was, I didn't mean it, whatever _it_ was" - Anna said casually.

"Have you ever felt like you dont know who you are? Or where you belong?" - Kristoff asked, still staring at his feet.

Anna looked at Kristoff and tried to think of a response. Okay, '_No' definitely is NOT the right way to answer that question, but I've never really questioned who I was or where i'm meant to be... Where is Elsa? She would know what to say. _

"I….. what?" Was all she was able to say. O_kay that definitely wasn't the right thing to say either..._

"Have you ever felt like you simply didn't belong someplace? Like an outsider who was only pretending to fit in?" - Kristoff said again, still staring at his feet.

_Elsa hurry up. I dont want to blow this!_

"Don't belong in the palace or don't belong….. with me?" - Anna

Kristoff looked up from his feet in shock. "What? No! no not THAT. I feel like I do belong with you, I love you!, I just feel like I dont belong with you in, _here_" He motioned with his arms towards the palace and all around him.

_Oh no, does that means he wants to move out?_

"Do you want to move out?" _CRAP, that wasn't meant to be an actual question!_

"No…. Maybe?... I don't know anymore" - Kristoff looked back down to his feet again.

_Geez, This wasnt going well at all... Elsa please hurry!_

* * *

><p>"Who are you?" - Elsa called out to the mystery guest. She crept close to him, but still kept her distance. The ice was quickly flowing towards her fingertips as she grew more and more anxious.<p>

The guest turned around. He was scrawny and short, but had a nice face.

_Oh, him..._

"You!…. You?….. Why are you still here?" - Elsa relaxed a little bit. She wasn't as intimidated by people who were shorter than her, or looked like they were 12 for that matter.

King Micheal turned to face her. "I didn't get the chance to finish telling you or your sister of my proposal." He seemed more stern and confident than he was before the last time he tried to pitch this thing to her. Wait, w_hat was it that he wanted again?_

"What was it you asked for again?" - Elsa

"I'm having a problem in my small kingdom of Houkkaville, which I believe you are best equipped to handle since you're the _snow queen_ and all" - King Micheal

Elsa flinched a tad at hearing that name, she didn't like being called the _snow queen_…. It took her _years_ to make peace with her gift and to go out and make a name for herself AS herself. She didn't want it all to be lost and overlooked by a silly nickname that was given to her by suspicious travelers who knew nothing about her.

"Excuse me, but you will address me as Queen _Elsa_ and nothing else. As for your problem in your home kingdom, whatever it is, I am confident that you are more than capable of handling it with your own resources." - Elsa

"The problem my kingdom is dealing with has been ongoing for the past ten years, with absolutely no progress made towards fixing it. You however may hold the key to ending it, and you may hold the key to saving my entire kingdom in the process." - King Micheal.

"And what exactly is this problem you are having that I am so perfect for dealing with, exactly?" - Elsa was beginning to lose her patience with this weird looking guy.

King Micheal sighed, took a deep breath, and collected himself. "There is an outlaw who has been plaguing our small kingdom for years, and despite our best efforts and every army I could ever put together to stop him, we have been unable to defeat him a single time"

"Uh-huh, and how am _I_ supposed to defeat someone who entire _armies_ before me have failed to defeat? Why would I even be interested in this whole thing in the first place?" - Elsa

"This outlaw likes to call himself, the _Ice King…"_

* * *

><p>Anna was making progress with Kristoff on what he was having problems with, but she wish that she hadnt, because she really didn't like where the conversation was going.<p>

"I'll be honest Anna, when you gave me my room in the palace as a birthday gift, I was kinda freaked out about it, at first… Ok, I was REALLY, really freaked out about it. Moving in together was something I hadn't given any thought about before my birthday happened, and then it happened like, instantly!…. And I couldn't like say _no_ to it, I mean it was a really thoughtful gift!" - Kristoff said, struggling with his train of thought as he spoke.

Anna was almost kicking herself though. "No, no, it was a stupid gift. We should've, I guess, _talked_ about it, at least… It is kind of a big issue and all"

"I was freaked out at first, but, then I was okay with it, because being with you all the time is what I want the most in the world!" - Kristoff said reassuringly. He was starting to see that what he was saying was deeply disturbing Anna, and the thing he hated more than anything in the world was seeing Anna freak out over something.

"So then, why, what happened then?" - Anna

He sighed. "Spending so much time here with you and Elsa and Olaf and everyone, its great! no, fantastic!… But all the other people who come at all these parties eventually just began to make me think that, I just _dont belong here_. People who arent royal arent supposed to live in castles and be with other royal people and act royal and…. stuff."

"So then…. You _do_ want to move out?" - Anna asked. She was torn between terrified and defeated at how Kristoff would answer that question. If he said yes, then she knew that he would be doing something really uncomfortable just because he didn't want to hurt her feelings. But at the same time, if he DID want to move out, then Anna and Kristoff might drift further and further apart in terms of their relationship.

"I had an idea, awhile back, that I think would be the best of both worlds…. One where I could be here, but at the same time, _not_ be here. Does that make sense?" - Kristoff.

"Sorta... A little...Actually not at all. What are you thinking?" - Anna

"What if….. Instead of living in an actual room in the palace….. I had my own room out in the stables instead?" - Kristoff.

"Wait, what?" - Anna asked in disbelief. _Kristoff would really choose to live in a barn over a royal palace? Not even a barn too! A __**stable**__. A stable full of animals who smelled and slept in their own sh-_

"Just think about it" Kristoff said, interrupting Anna's thoughts. "The most comfortable I've ever been was when I was sleeping on hay in a barn or a shed somewhere, with Sven close by watching my back. If I had my own room in the royal stables, I would still be living here on the palace grounds, still be living here with you and everyone…. But at the same time feel more like I belong here and all that"

Anna mulled it over in her head and relaxed a little. It seemed like a decent idea actually. Kristoff would feel infinitely more comfortable sleeping in the royal stables, and literally everything else would be the same...

"Ok, Ill talk to Elsa and she'll arrange something." Anna said with a smile, the first time she smiled that night in a while. Once again, she had full faith that everything would be okay, if not better. "BUT, you gotta promise me something in exchange" She said in the sternest voice she could muster, while pointing her finger at Kristoff's face.

"What?" - Kristoff

"You need to bathe regularly….."

Kristoff sighed, mulled it over, mulled it over some more, looked at Anna, then he caved in. "ALRIGHT, I'll bathe…."

"Bathe REGULARLY" Anna stressed as a smile crept across her face again.

"OK, regularly! I promise to bathe regularly" - Kristoff said through a laugh.

Anna smiled and leaned her head on Kristoff's shoulder in relief. He put both of his arms around her in a casual hug, pulled her in tight, and then they kissed under the stars.

* * *

><p>"Elsaaaaaa!… Elsaaaaaa! Elsa the sky is falling! Oh, and Anna found something she was looking for, but more importantly THE SKY IS FALLING!" Olaf ran through the palace halls looking for Elsa. <em>Where was she?<em>

* * *

><p>"The… The Ice King?" - Elsa asked. She wasnt even sure if she heard him right.<p>

"Yes, the Ice King, hes a maniac who possesses the power to control ice and snow, and he has frozen over my entire kingdom in an eternal winter for the past ten years." - King Micheal

_Ice and snow, eternal winter, maniac…..Not a good combination_…. Elsa flashed back to the time that _she_ accidentally plunged her own kingdom into an eternal winter, and how people thought _she_ was an evil Queen who had to be stopped. More importantly though, _someone else out there had these powers to! Maybe this guy knows how people end up with these powers….. Maybe this guy knows how to control them… Maybe he knows..._

_… How to get rid of them_

Elsa snapped back into it. King Micheal was still standing there, just waiting for her to reply, but her midn was still going a mile a minute. _ Should I accept his proposal?_…. _It certainly is interesting, but what if I couldnt fix the problem? What if this rebel really was a maniac?_ Elsa has never had to fight someone before, let alone someone who _also has ice powers_…. She couldn't even remember the last time she was able to mess around with her powers either.. _How could I suddenly become battle-ready to possibly deal with this possible maniac who has all the same powers as I do?_

But then she flashed back to her own past again. She remembered so vividly how in the beginning, no matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't control her own powers and hurt others as a result of it. She remembered vividly how she was misunderstood by people when she lost control, how scared she was of her powers, she remembered everything. _This guy out there could be going through the exact same thing, except nobody has saved him yet…. _

_…. Or maybe he wasn't, and he actually was crazy _

King Micheal cleared his throat, breaking Elsa's train of thought.

"All you would have to do is come to my kingdom, help us deal with this monster, and then when its all done, you'll be free to come back here, and then we will offer you anything we can for our eternal gratitude for saving us from this man." King Micheal said. His tone had changed gears from a stern and intimidating one to a more relaxed and compromising one, and his face had softened as he spoke as a result.

"I, really, really need to think this one over, but I AM interested in this whole, situation. Let me think about it and, uh, Ill get back to you on it" - Elsa stammered.

King Micheal looked relieved. "That's fair. My ship is in the royal harbor, once you've made up your mind, you're free to come by my ship and inform me of your decision, I wont leave harbor until then."

"Ok, you'll hear from me sometime soon" - Elsa said, relieved at hearing that King Micheal would finally leave to let her think about it.

King Micheal made his way towards the exit with a look of hope and accomplishment on his face, which was much better than the sheepish look he came in with.

He turned the corner, and Elsa was left by herself, with only one thought in her head.

_I need to find Anna_


	4. Chapter 4: Without a Clue

(My song writing skills aren't that good, so don't hate me too much if they don't turn out well)

* * *

><p>Anna and Kristoff casually made their way back into the castle searching for Elsa, while Elsa jogged through the halls looking for Anna. Olaf meanwhile was still running around the palace like a mad-snowman looking for Elsa, and it was his shrieks that eventually attracted the attention of Elsa and Anna and Kristoff. They all converged on opposite sides of a hallway that Olaf was in the middle of.<p>

"Anna!" Elsa called out when she first saw Anna at the other end of the hall.

"Elsa! Hey, I nee-, I mean WE, need to ask you about something real quick" - Kristoff

Anna saw the worried look on Elsa's face though, and her sisterly-instincts immediately picked up that something was wrong. She elbowed Kristoff in the ribs to get him to be quiet, but she only succeeded in hurting her elbow.

"Hey! What was that for?" - Kristoff

"Elsa, I found you! The sky is falling!…. Oh Anna also found that thing she was looking for, BUT THE SKY IS FALLING OUTSIDE" - Olaf said in a panic

Elsa was taken aback "Wait, what?" was all she was able to get out.

Anna intervened before Olaf derailed the conversation before it started. "Actually Olaf, I took care of that, the sky isn't falling anymore, but thank you for finding Elsa for me!" She said with a thankful smile

Olaf saluted like a soldier "Yes captain, my captain!"

Everyone was now face to face, and even Kristoff could pick up the level of distress Elsa was feeling by the worried look on her face. He quickly put together why Anna tried to elbow him in the ribs to be quiet, and quickly changed the subject. "That thing though can wait until later, is something wrong?"

Elsa then explained to all of them about King Micheal's problem and how she had no idea about what to do. She went into a little detail about how she felt when she accidentally froze over the kingdom last year, and how people thought she was evil when she just couldn't control her powers, but then she presented the other side of the argument where she was in no way prepared to do battle with this alleged outlaw if he was evil, and that he could indeed be evil instead of just misunderstood.

"So, what do you guys think I should do?" Elsa asked after explaining the whole situation to them. Anna and Kristoff though were stuck, they exchanged nervous glances and had absolutely no idea on what to do. While they could see why Elsa would be sympathetic to King Micheal's situation, along with the outlaw's, the proposal did sound like it could be very dangerous and risky.

"An act of love will thaw a frozen heart" Olaf said, breaking the silence after a while.

"Thats true, but a frozen heart might not be what we're dealing with here, it sounds like this guy either cant control his powers, or that he really is evil." - Kristoff muttered

"Well wait, Elsa learned to control her powers by letting it go, so to speak, so… couldn't we maybe just see if that works?" - Anna asked optimistically

Elsa looked down at Anna's feet in slight disappointment. She still hadn't told Anna about how she could feel her powers slowly becoming harder to control again, and she didn't feel good for not telling her yet. _How could I help some outlaw control his ice powers if I can barely keep mine under control? _

"I think it's your call Elsa" Kristoff said after another delayed silence. "You know more about ice powers and controlling it and all this stuff more than anyone else in the _world_, since you experienced it yourself and all…. But this does sound kinda dangerous, with no guarantee that you could even fix this."

"Elsa, in the time you've been Queen, you've become a pretty good, er, tactician, tactical analyzer?….. You seem to know what you're doing is what i'm saying… So I agree with Kristoff when he says that ultimately, it's your call, and we will support you no matter what you decide to do" - Anna said, trying to reassure Elsa, but she wasn't having any of it.

"But I dont know what I should do." Elsa said in worry, turning her gaze to the window as it began to snow outside. It has been a long time since Elsa was this flustered on a big decision she had to make, and she could feel the ice crawling through her veins towards her fingertips again in worry and confusion. She was hoping that maybe Anna and Kristoff could enlighten Elsa of what she should do, but instead they simply deferred to her own judgement which already got her nowhere.

"Isn't there someone else we could maybe talk to about this who could help?" Olaf asked, while holding one of his severed arms in his other arm as it stroked his imaginary chin hair.

And then Elsa's eyes widened a little. She stood up straight, and looked back at Anna and Kristoff with a look of realization replacing the one of loss and confusion on her face. "Actually…. There _is_ someone we can ask…."

* * *

><p>Regent Louis was the former King and Queen's top adviser when they were still alive, and when they both were lost at sea, he was the one who was put in charge of the Kingdom until Elsa came of age to become Queen. Regent Louis was also the one who coached Elsa in how to deal with dignitaries, how to handle her duties as queen, and how to be a good strategist when looking at a tricky situation. He left the palace about 2 months ago to take care of his elderly parents, but he did tell Elsa that if she ever had an issue that she couldn't make a decision on, then she was more than free to summon him to the palace to ask for his advice.<p>

Elsa decided that in the morning, since it was already approaching midnight, she would summon Regent Louis to the Royal court and ask him for advice. Though Kristoff and Olaf couldn't remember who Regent Louis was, Anna did remember him, and she reassured them that Elsa's plan was a good one.

"Okay, well you all get a good night's sleep, we have a big day tomorrow." Elsa said, and she turned to go to her quarters.

"Actually Elsa wait, we, um, we have something of our own to tell you" - Anna

Anna elbowed Kristoff in the ribs to get him to talk. "What, me?…. Okay" - Kristoff said after Anna again motioned for him to talk.

Kristoff took a step towards Elsa and came out with it. "For the past few months, I've felt like I dont really belong in here, in the palace with all these royal dignitaries who just make me feel like an outsider. So I talked things over with Anna after I kinda snapped at her, and we both think it would be a good idea if, I… Moved out from my room and into the royal stables…." Kristoff struggled through it, but Anna gave him a warm smile to assure him that he did good.

Elsa was surprised that Kristoff didn't feel like he belonged in the palace, but she quickly figured out why Kristoff would feel more comfortable living in a stable than in a royal bedroom.

"Thats fine, but on one condition" Elsa said

Kristoff rolled his eyes. "I already promised Anna that I would bathe regularly"

Elsa frowned "You mean you don't already?…. Ew. Ew, well thats not what I was gonna ask you. You still need to bathe, but you also have to clean your room up first before you leave." - Elsa

"Awwww, but that'll take forever!" Kristoff cried out in agony while Anna and Olaf smirked.

"You _will_ clean up your room AND bathe before you move into the royal stables. I'll have someone clear a space for you first thing in the morning, after I send for regent Louis of course." Elsa said in a matter-of-fact tone. She was no longer nervous and felt confident as the ice in her veins flowed away from her fingertips.

Kristoff reluctantly agreed and trudged towards his room to get to work. Anna and Elsa made their way back to their rooms while Olaf, who liked to sleep in different rooms every night for the sheer adventure of it, started playing enie-meanie-miney-moe with the doors to pick where he would sleep for the night.

* * *

><p>Kristoff, after cleaning up his room by moshing everything into one corner of it, fell asleep due to exhaustion and slept like a rock. Anna also slept well, she was in good spirits that things with Kristoff were going to work out well after all, and that he was gonna bathe more regularly. Elsa on the other bend did <em>not<em> sleep well that night…. She tossed and turned all night thinking about what she was going to do. Even if the regent did recommend she go and help Houkkaville, she still had no idea how she would handle it once she was there. She hadn't played with her powers in quite some time, and she certainly wasn't battle-ready if thats what it was going to come down to.

Eventually she gave up and got out of bed, slipped on some slippers and a coat, and wandered the halls of the palace in solitude. She pondered over what t do as she would occasionally glance at the portraits hanging on the walls, hoping that maybe one of them could provide some sort of inspiration for her.

Then she came across the portrait of her parents. Her father stood upright and had a stern look on his face, displaying leadership and wisdom and courage. But it was her mother who Elsa more connected with in the portrait. She was standing slightly in the background, her arm around her fathers arm, with a warm and more relaxed look of support on her face.

"Whats a girl to do, when faced with an impossible choice?  
>Whats a girl to do, when she can't find her own voice?<br>I wish you were both still here, you would know what to do,  
>Cause all I can do is stand here, without a clue…."<p>

Elsa made her way down the hallway, gazing upon the portraits of former Kings and Queens of Arendelle.

"How do I choose? How do I decide?  
>How can I do this without a guide?<br>I know I am the queen, but whats a queen to do,  
>If all I can do is wander, without a clue?…."<p>

She made her way into the portrait room, where pictures of all sorts were hung all around her. She glanced at each one of them, seeking any inspiration at all.

"Should I go or should I stay?  
>What will regent Louis say?<br>What if I cannot fix this mess  
>even if I try my best?<br>I cant just stay here in a cave,  
>but If I go then no one's safe<br>I want to help but what can I do,  
>If I don't even haaaave….. aaaaa..… cluuuuue?"<p>

She stared out at the window. The storm outside was growing louder, much like the one inside her head and heart.


	5. Chapter 5: Regent Louis

Early the next morning, Elsa arranged for a room in the stables to be cleared for Kristoff, and she sent off an envoy to summon Regent Louis to the palace. She got some sleep last night, but not much, especially not as much as Anna or Kristoff ended up getting. Anna and Elsa sat waiting in the Royal court for Regent Louis while Kristoff finished up cleaning his room since shoving everything into one corner didn't qualify as cleaning up to either Elsa or Anna.

A guard walked into the room. "Queen Elsa, I proudly present to you, Regent Louis, of Arendelle"

In walked Regent Louis, a balding, chubby man who walked with a limp, but always had a smile on his face no matter what. His appearance was the polar opposite of what Anna and Elsa's father looked like, but he had a heart of gold, and his loyalty could never be questioned. It was part of the reason why he was trusted by Elsa and Anna's parents to be regent should something happen to them, and he coached Elsa better than anyone else could have.

"Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, I am so overjoyed to see both of your beautiful faces again!" He said as he limped/waddled his way up the carpet towards the thrones.

"Regent Louis it's so nice to see you again!" Anna cheered as she went to give him a hug. Elsa, still too tired from last night, only was able to stand up and give a slight bow of thanks to him for coming back to the palace.

"Oh Princess Anna you look so precious! Please, don't ever grow up" Regent Louis said, playing with Anna's cheeks in either hand like he did when she was just a baby. His gaze turned to Elsa. "My Queen, I see that you are handling the job splendidly! I knew I did a good job in training you" He said with a wink.

Elsa chuckled and couldn't help but smile. "You sure did Louie"

"So, what troubles you my Queen?" - Louis

"Louis, you're more then welcome to call me Elsa you know… You've known me and Anna longer than anyone else in this whole palace, you've surely earned the right more than anyone else." - Elsa

"Nonsense! A queen should be, and always shall be, addressed as 'queen', as long as she has a heart of gold and a smile that makes the birds sing!" - Regent Louis. He was also a tad of a suck-up. "Now then, what troubles you my Queen?"

She got right to the point. "Regent, one of my many guests has asked me for help, pleading that I come to his kingdom, not to woo me or marry me, but because he needs help in dealing with an outlaw…. An outlaw who happens to have the power to control ice and snow as well." - Elsa

Louis was shocked "You mean someone _else_ out there also has these mystical powers?"

Elsa nodded. "That is correct, and it also appears that this outlaw has plunged an entire town under an eternal winter as well."

Louis ruffled his eyebrows. "I see, do you know if this outlaw did this on purpose, or if this was all done accidentally?"

"The guest, King Micheal, claims that it was done on purpose and that the outlaw is indeed evil. However, knowing my own history, I can't help but feel that this may be another case of a simple failure to control one's powers, and as a result, scaring the people as a result." - Elsa

"I see. Now then, how can I help?" - Regent Louis

Elsa began to pace around the room while Anna remained standing next to Louis. "I am torn on what I should do in this situation. Its possible that this outlaw is simply misunderstood, but it's also possible that he is indeed evil. Furthermore, even if I decide to go, there's no guarantee that I'll be able to actually stop this alleged outlaw, or even undo his work."

"Ah, so you are torn between these two decisions and so you seek my wisdom for guidance on what to do then?" Louis

"That is correct. If I do go, I may not be able to stop this man and I may be put in grave danger, but I have the best chance to fix this more than anyone else in the world. If I don't go, then I am in no danger, but an entire kingdom may be doomed to an eternal winter that I might be able to remedy….. So what do you recommend?" - Elsa

Louis chuckled and began to pace around the room himself. "You know, this actually reminds me of something that happened to your father." - Louis.

Elsa and Anna perked up a little. "How?" Anna asked, before Elsa could ask the question herself.

"You see, long ago, when the King and Queen were still with us, a random diplomat from some far-flung land approached your father asking for assistance in dealing with pirates, pirates who were ravaging the ships and people off the coast of his kingdom. He asked your father to help him fight these pirates by sending the royal navy to crush them. Now, these pirates posed no threat to Arendelle whatsoever, and the kingdom being harassed was of no strategic importance to Arendelle… So if the King agreed to help, he would very well be putting the lives of good sailors at risk for questionable reasons.…" - Louis

"What did he do?" Elsa asked, this time asking the question before Anna could. She and Anna had never heard this story about their father before, and both of them were positively intrigued by it.

"Your father, though a bit thick-headed, always had a soft spot in his heart for helping innocent people, and if he could do anything to help prevent or end the persecution of innocent people anywhere within his realm of influence, then he would _always do so_. Sometimes it worked out, sometimes he didnt, but he always tried to help." - Louis

Elsa looked down for a moment, then back at Louis. "So if my father was in my position, you think he would agree to go and help this man?"

Louis paused to think it over, then with a smile said, "There isn't any doubt in my mind, that he would have tried to help. He always believed that it is better to try and fail at something then to never have tried at all, because even if you do fail, it could provide valuable insight on how to prevent future failures."

Elsa was calm now, the anxiety that haunted her all night had vanished. After hearing Louis talk about her father and what he would have done, she accepted that she would have agree to help King Micheal. The ice in her veins, which also had bothered throughout the night, had completely receded back into her shoulders for about the first time in forever… Anna on the other hand still had a lot on her mind, because even though she now knew what Elsa was going to do, she wanted to make sure that she would still be with her sister through the whole ordeal.

"Elsa, I'm coming with you" Anna said

The look of calm on Elsa's face shattered. She looked up at Anna in fear and confusion. "What? no! no. Out of the question." she was so taken aback she almost didn't know if she heard Anna right the first time

"Elsa, I am NOT letting you run off to some far away kingdom where you might get hurt, If you're going, im going too, and thats final" - Anna said sternly. Though she was concerned about her own safety plenty, she was far more concerned of Elsa's safety. Only Anna and Kristoff knew how fragile Elsa could be despite having supernatural powers, and even if Elsa brought a thousand soldiers with her on her journey, Anna would still demand to be with her so that she can ensure that Elsa be safe.

"Anna no, I could never willingly put you in harms way over something that isn't even that important in the first place." - Elsa said. She was almost pleading with Anna not to come at this point.

"Elsa please! I can't stand having someone else I love sail away on a ship never to be seen again!" - Anna said, growing worried. She knew all too well that a distant outlaw wasn't the only thing out there that could hurt her sister.

Elsa was having none of it though. She would do everything in her power to keep Anna safe, even if she didn't want to be safe. _Its for her own good. _

Elsa took a deep breath and prepared herself for what she was about to do. "Anna, as queen, I _order you_ not to come with me on this journey, and thats final."

Anna was heartbroken. Her bottom lip began to quiver as tears quickly welled in the corners of her eyes, and she couldn't come up with a single thing to say in response. Elsa looked away from Anna towards the wall decorations, ashamed that she had to resort to such measures just to keep Anna safe. She also hated seeing Anna upset over anything, and she couldn't bear to see her sister's face after _she_ was the one upsetting her. Anna ran out of the room with her eyes clenched shut and tears streaming down her cheeks, while all Elsa could do Elsa was watch her storm out while wiping away a few tears out of her own eye.

After Anna ran out, there was nothing else for Elsa to do except to dismiss Louis. "Re-Regent Louis…. Th-thank you for your wisdom, your assistance is no longer needed" She stammered, trying to remain calm.

Louis bowed and made his way out of the Royal court. Elsa hadn't seen it, but as Louis walked out of the room, he did so without the usual smile on his face. No one as cheerful as Louis could have seen what just happened and walked away from that feeling okay. The reason she hadn't seen it though was because she had accidentally frosted the table her hands were grazing when it all happened. She quickly grabbed her hands and slowed her breathing, thinking the same thing voer and over again.

_Everything will be okay, everything will be okay_

* * *

><p>Kristoff finally finished in cleaning up the last of his clothes. he wondered why he had so many when he basically wore the same outfit all the time. As he shoved the last basket of dirty clothes against the side of the wall, he made his way towards the door to see if his new room in the stables was ready. As he opened the door though, Anna stood in the doorway. Her nose was running, her eyes red, tears coming out of her eyes, and her arms were around her torso as she literally tried to hold herself togehter.<p>

"Oh no, Anna, whats wrong?" Kristoff said. Anna planted her face into Kristoff's shirt and began sobbing uncontrollably. She tried telling Kristoff what happened but she couldn't get a single word out. "Anna, take deep breathes, breathe Anna breathe!"

Anna tried taking deep breaths, but she couldn't stop crying, and every time she inhaled all she did was immediately break down into another fit of sobbing. It was only after 1 good 10 minutes that she finally managed to get it together.

"Sh-sh-sh-she o-ordered me to st-st-stay here while she l-l-left!" Anna stammered, fighting back the tears while trying to tell Kristoff what was making her so upset in the first place. "Sh-Sh-She's leaving, but sh-sh-sh-she ordered me to stay he-h-here!" Was all she could say before she broke down into another fit of crying.

Kristoff put his arms around her and cradled her in his arms. "Anna here, sit down on the floor, you need to try to relax."

They sat down. Well, Kristoff sat down, Anna collapsed onto the floor as her legs gave out, she had exhausted herself from crying so bad that she couldn't even keep herself up. She was laying on the floor crying while Kristoff did anything he could think of to try to calm her down, but to no avail.

* * *

><p>Elsa was in her room getting ready. She knew that the longer she stayed the more determined Anna would become to come with her, so she had to move fast. Although she hated having to do all of this to her own sister, she felt in her heart that it was the right thing to do. Its one thing to decide to help a village at great risk to yourself, but its another thing entirely to break someone's heart for their own safety, even if it was for their own good…. even if it was her own sister.<p>

Elsa grabbed some dresses, along with some pants and coats. If she did end up having to do battle with this 'Ice King', then doing so in a dress and high heels wouldn't be to her advantage.

A guard walked into her room. "Queen Elsa, I sent the messenger to King Micheal that you have elected to help him, and that you will be leaving immediately. Shall we prepare the royal ship for your journey or will you be going on his ship?"

"Is the royal ship prepared and ready?" Elsa asked as she still rummaged through her drawers.

"Yes my queen. As always, your ship is ready to sail on a moments notice to anywhere you please." The guard replied

"Then I'll be using that one. How soon before we can set sail?" - Elsa

"Id put it at about 30 minutes my Queen." - Guard

"Make it 10" - Elsa

"Yes my Queen" - The guard said and then left in a hurry. Elsa grabbed the last of her old pants when she discovered something hiding underneath them….. An old pair of gloves. They weren't the exact same ones she wore growing up, the ones she used to conceal her powers, but they had the same pattern and everything on them.

She could feel the ice crawling through her veins again. The incident with Anna was the first time she accidentally froze something, and being in such a hurry to go was only making her more anxious and nervous, causing the ice to flow through her hands quicker than ever before.

She grabbed the gloves, and shoved them into bag with her other clothes before making her way out the door.

* * *

><p>"Anna, she only did it because she cares about you more than anything in the world, and you know very well how devastated she would be if you got hurt because of her." - Kristoff said quietly while still consoling Anna in his arms. Kristoff wasn't necessarily happy about what Elsa did, but he could still understand why she did it. Anna though was having none of it.<p>

"I-I'm not the one who needs protecting though! She is! Ive done well looking after myself, and Elsa needs someone looking out for her." - Anna said, her mouth quivering from dehydration from the amount of tears that she made.

"She has half the navy looking after her, along with the army of, um, whatever that guys name was, mitchell" - Kristoff

Anna sighed "Its not enough, Elsa needs _me _to look out for her, and I need to be the one who watches her back since she's _my_ sister"

Although she wasn't making a lot of sense, Kristoff knew that there was no sense in trying to change her mind. He knew that Anna was hellbent on going with Elsa on this journey, and there was no stopping her.

_Unless of course Elsa tries to pull a fast one and leave right away. _

Kristoff suddenly realized that might be what Elsa is doing right now. It certainly seems like something she would do. He could either stall Anna long enough for Elsa to leave and ensure her safety, or he could help Anna stow-away on the ship so that they could both keep each other and Elsa safe. He looked down at Anna as he cradled her in his arms and looked at her face. It was a combination of devastation and sadness, but with a dash of raw determination thrown in.

_Its decided, we're going with her. _

"Anna, grab any clothes you might need for this journey, we don't have a lot of time"

* * *

><p>Elsa walked out the front door of the palace, and the first cool wind of winter greeted her. She turned to the head of the guard. "Princess Anna is in charge until I return. If I do not return, then Regent Louis is to be in charge until Anna comes of age, understood?"<p>

The guard nodded "Crystal clear my queen, shall I inform her of this right now?"

"No! no.…" Elsa collected herself. "Wait until she has calmed down a bit before informing her that I left, she doesn't need to become any more upset than I've already made her"

The guard nodded again and closed the palace doors behind her. Elsa and a troop of guards then quickly escorted her towards the harbor where the Royal ship and the ship of King Micheal was waiting. The Royal ship, A tremendous, towering, freshly painted galleon with a dozen royal-purple sails carrying no less than 50 cannons and 200 men on any given voyage, absolutely dwarfed the ship of King Micheal, a pitiful, aging sloop that had maybe 10 cannons max, a single sail, and maybe 20 men.

Elsa made her way on board with her luggage while all the sailors around her bustled to get the ship ready. She made her way over to the ships captain and head of the royal navy, Admiral Agnus. He was a towering man of 6'5 and 300 pounds of all muscle who graduated top of his class from the naval academy and with full honors. He looked as if he could tear King Micheal's ship to shreds with his own teeth he was so big.

"Admiral, how soon until we can set sail?" - Elsa asked as she examined the deck and the sailors all around her

"Mah Queen! We be ready to set sail righ' now asa' matter of fact, but we be waiting on them dunderheads from Houkkaville to pick up the pace, bunch of weakling boys if ya ask me, not meant to be on a ship in these seas!" Agnus said with bits of the meat he had for breakfast still stuck in his teeth.

"Very well, until King Micheal is ready to sail, double check that everything on this ship is ready for the voyage, and then check again after that if you have the time" - She said as she mad her way to her quarters.

"Yes mah lady!" Angus said with a fierce salute.

Elsa made her way through the maze of hallways deep within the ship towards where she would be staying. After a couple minutes she came to her door and opened it. The spacious room had two beds, two sets of dressers, and was adorned with lavish decorations of her kingdom's colors all around. A single window let sunlight pour in from overhead, and everything else in the room was lit by candle.

Elsa paced around her room and became lost in her thoughts.… _This is probably similar to the room my parents slept in when they went on their voyage_…. She looked at her bed, which was freshly made, and then she looked at the bed Anna would have slept in, right across from hers. The ice in her veins crept towards her fingertips again, but she no longer cared. The gloves she was wearing would ensure that she didn't have another accident like before.

_Everything will be okay, everything will be okay_


	6. Chapter 6: Stowaways

About 3 weeks had passed since Elsa set sail with half the navy with King Micheal towards his kingdom, and Frankly, Elsa was enjoying it. She had never been so far away from Arendelle before, and to her, the whole experience was liberating. The bobbing of the seas and the wind in her hair, the smell of salt water and the sound of the waves brushing along the ship, she hadn't felt this free in forever. She was still somewhat worried about what craziness lied in the days ahead of her, but she was confident enough where she no longer had to wear her gloves without freezing anything.

When she wasn't out on deck admiring the view of endless ocean, she would explore the deck of the ship or read some of the books in her room. She hadn't thought to bring any of her own books on the voyage, but luckily someone had stocked her bookshelf with a couple books to keep her occupied. She was about halfway through the very first book when she received a knock at her door.

"Mah, queen, we have a problem that requires your attention!" - Admiral Angus.

Elsa marked her page, got up, and opened the door, where Admiral Angus escorted her to the deck of the ship.

"A couple of stowaways were found on the ship of King Micheal, and one of them claims to know you" - Angus said.

Elsa's heart sank. _Anna I swear if you stowed away on my ship to come with me I am going to strangle you!_

She hurried out onto the deck expecting the worst, but instead she was greeted by something much weirder.

"HI ELSA! Look Sven! Elsa's here!" Olaf said, hugging Sven around the neck as he eyed Olaf's nose.

"Olaf? What, what on Earth are you doing here?" - Elsa asked. She was dumbfounded at how both Sven and Olaf somehow made it onto her ship without anyone noticing.

"Oh boy, what a story. Well, we saw you in a hurry, and I overheard that you were going somewhere, so I thought, 'this is weird, I'll follow her!'. You were heading towards the docks with Anna and Kristoff, so I grabbed Sven and told him to come on cause we—" - Olaf

"Whoa whoa, wait, slow down there Olaf. You saw Anna and Kristoff that day?" - Elsa

"Yeah, why?" - Olaf

"And they were following me to the docks?" - Elsa

"Yeah, why?" - Olaf

"Do you know where they are? Are they here on the ship" - Elsa

"Yeah, why?" - Olaf

_Dammit Anna!_

"Olaf, I need you to bring me to them right away, where on the ship are they hiding?" - Elsa

Olaf laughed. "Oh wait, I forgot. They aren't on THIS ship, they're on that other one that we've been following this whole time" - Olaf

"Wait, what?" She said in confusion. _Why would they stowaway on King Micheal's ship?_

"Yeah it seemed kinda weird to me too but I was like, whatever. Hey, where can I get something to eat on here?" - Olaf asked, still oblivious to the fact that Elsa didn't know nor wanted Anna to have come along on this journey

Elsa turned to Admiral Angus. "Pull up to King Micheal's ship and send a search party aboard at once!" She ordered.

"Yes mah Queen!" - Angus said before he began barking out orders to the sailors. Elsa stormed back into her quarters and slammed the door shut behind her. _Dammit Anna! why couldn't you have just stayed home and took care of Arrendele? _

_Wait a minute, who is running Arrendele right now if she and Anna weren't there?!_

Angus knocked on her door. "Mah Queen, we have docked with King Micheal's toothpick of a ship!"

_Well that was quick. _"I'll be right out, wait for me on the deck!" She ordered

"Aye mah Queen!"

_Anna, you are in a heap of trouble right now_

* * *

><p>Elsa collected herself as best she could and walked out onto the deck of the ship. Sure enough, Anna and Kristoff were being restrained by several guards and were waiting for her. King Micheal was standing next to them, also being restrained by the guards.<p>

"Queen Elsa! My apologies, I-I had absolutely no idea that they werent supposed to be on my ship!" - King Micheal stammered. "Please, tell your men that I wasn't kidnapping them!"

"How on Earth did they manage to hide on your ship without noticing?" - Elsa demanded, she was borderline furious right now at all this.

"We weren't hiding actually, we told him that you sent us on his ship to keep an eye on things, and he bought it." - Kristoff said. He was actually a little proud of himself for thinking up such an ingenious plan.

Anna chimed in "Elsa, We were going to hide on his ship until we arrived in Houkkaville and then reveal that we secretly came along because we want to look out for you, because you're my sister"

"How did you find out we were on there in the first place?" - Kristoff asked.

Elsa pinched the space between her eyebrows with her thumb and index finger. "Olaf and Sven saw you sneak on board their ship, and so they snuck onto my ship to follow you guys. We found them, they told us that they were following you, thats how we found out. Now WHAT are you guys doing here anyways?" She snapped

"Elsa how could you just try to sneak out like that and leave us all behind? We are a TEAM! All we have is each other, remember?" - Anna replied, being just as snappy as Elsa was.

"I left you behind because I knew if I waited too long or told you that I was leaving, you would have tried something crazy like sneaking on board to come with me, which is exactly what you did!" - Elsa said with clenched fists. She was borderline yelling at Anna, which only caused Anna to grow more stubborn in response.

"Elsa nobody can look after you like me and Kristoff! Remember how we were the only ones on your side when you lost control of your powers and froze Arendelle?" Anna yelled at Elsa

"Wait, what?" - King Micheal said.

"SHE SAID 'REMEMBER WHEN THEY WERE THE ONLY ONES ON HER SIDE WHEN SHE LOST CONTROL OF HER POWERS AND FROZE ARENDELLE - Olaf yelled to King Micheal, mistaking his confusion for being deaf and almost scaring him to death with his screaming

"Anna, you're not safe here, and if something happened to you because I was the one who brought you here, I would never be able to forgive myself!" - Elsa

"And if something happened to YOU because I wasn't here to watch your back, I would never forgive myself either!" - Anna yelled back. The shouting was making things very bad for Elsa. The ice in her veins were flowing dangerously fast through now, and if it kept up she would surely lose control. She needed to end this conversation quick.

"Turn the ship around, we're dropping you four back off at home right away" - Elsa said, turning back to head to her quarters.

Anna was aghast, as was Kristoff and Olaf, but it was King Micheal who actually spoke before any of them could think of a response. "Actually, Queen Elsa, I can't afford for you to do that…."

Elsa stopped in her tracks and turned around in shock. "And, why is that?". Anna and Kristoff were surprised too, and their gaze was now fixed on King Micheal instead of Elsa.

King Micheal took a deep breath "The Winter Solstice is fast approaching, which is when the Ice King becomes his most powerful. If he isn't stopped before the Winter Solstice comes, then we won't be able to defeat him….. We have already been sailing for three weeks. If we turn around now to return these stowaways, then by the time we make it to my kingdom it would be far too late….." - King Micheal…

_The winter solstice….. crap!…._

Elsa remembered the last time the Winter Solstice passed. The night it came, Elsa woke up in a cold sweat and had come dangerously close to losing control of her powers. She struggled the entire day to keep it all in and only barely succeeded in doing so, it was a miracle that nobody else seemed to notice how much stress she was under and how hard she had to try to keep her power under control. The Winter Solstice was when Elsa had the least control over her powers, and if that's when the Ice King had the _most_ control over his powers, then Elsa, nor anyone else would even stand a chance against him!

Elsa sighed in defeat. "Okay…. You guys can stay. But you're staying on MY ship where I can keep an eye on you guys."

Anna took exception to that. "Elsa, We didn't come here to have you look out for us, we came here so that we could look out for you! You cant just fly off on your own like this or else youll get yourself hurt, maybe even killed!"

"ENOUGH!" Elsa yelled in fury as she thrust her hand out in front of her. And then it happened.

A powerful burst of magic leaped from Elsa's fingertips out onto the deck, causing a wall of frozen spikes to emerge. They pointed against everyone around her, just like what had happened at the party on the night of her coronation about a year ago.

_oh no, oh no no no! _Elsa clenched her hand after realizing what she did, staring around at all the faces of people who were now gawking at her. She fled towards her quarters to get her gloves on as quickly as possible.

"Elsa…..?" Anna whispered under her breath. She hadn't seen Elsa lose control of her powers like that since she first revealed that she had them.

* * *

><p>Elsa slammed the door behind her and barricaded herself against the door, clenching her hair with both of her hands as she slid down the door into a fetal position.<p>

_Get it together Elsa, get it together!_

She was breathing frantically and she could feel the pressure of the ice in her fingertips again. She felt that she was way in over her head now, and that she made a terrible mistake in agreeing to do this. Everyone's lives were on the line, and now there was no going back. Furthermore, if she cant defeat this guy before the Winter Solstice, then everyone is as good as doomed!

_Wait a minute, the gloves!_

Elsa got up and began frantically searching for them. _Where did I put them?_ She began tearing clothes out of all the drawers looking for them before she found whe she had stored them. Right as she slid them on though, Anna barged through the door.

"Anna, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you to lose you're powers like—" - Anna stopped and looked around. All of Elsa's clothes were lying on the floor, some of them had patches of frost growing on them where Elsa had grabbed them. And there was Elsa, standing over her dresser hunched over a little, with her old pair of gloves on her hands.

Anna stared at the gloves, then Elsa's face, then back to the gloves again. "Elsa, how, how long have, have you been having trouble—"

Elsa began to nervously pick up her clothes without saying a word to Anna. She didn't know how to explain it to her.

"Elsa wait, stop!... Talk to me... Please..." - Anna walked over and laid her hand on Elsa's shoulder, but Elsa nervously backed away when she did that.

"Don't!… Don't….. I don't want to hurt you Anna" - Elsa said, holding her arms together with her hands tucked underneath them as she slid towards a corner in the room. Anna felt terrible seeing Elsa like this, it simply tore her heart out.

"Elsa, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I did this, I'm sorry I came, maybe I shouldn't have come... But what's going on right now? What's happening to you?" - Anna pleaded, worried at how frail Elsa looked. She almost resembled her former self back when she hid in isolation and had kept her powers a secret from Anna.

Elsa sat down on her bed and leaned against the stack of pillows on it. She paused, then admitted the truth. "About a few months ago, I started getting, _overwhelmed_, by the job of being queen."

Anna sat down on the foot of Elsa's bed. She continued, "It was nothing at first, but it started growing more and more problematic over time. Then when all of this stuff happened, I started to slip up and have accidents here and there. And now knowing that you're here along with everyone else, and that I have to defeat this outlaw guy before the Winter Solstice, and that nobody is home to watch Arendelle, it all just—" - Elsa

"Oh, dont worry about that, I put Regent Louis in charge until we got back" - Anna said

_Well thats good, I guess not _**_everything_**_ is a complete disaster then…._

"It still just, it all has put me under a lot of pressure, and now I'm starting to crack under it. I dont know if I can do this anymore Anna" - Elsa said, burying her face into a pillow purely out of stress.

'_Oh man, I really put her in a rough spot'_ Anna thought to herself. She was really starting to question if she should have come now, seeing Elsa so stressed out and so broken up was heartbreaking.

There was a silence in the room, Elsa's face still buried into a pillow. After a while, Anna gave up and admitted defeat. "Elsa, It was selfish for me to come... I realize that now, and I should have listened to you before and just stayed home. I'm sorry Elsa." - Anna got up off the bed. She made her way towards the door, but paused before she was about to exit, waiting for Elsa to maybe say something back to tell her that it's okay, that it will be okay, or that she wasn't mad...

Elsa though didn't say anything, much to Anna's dismay. To Anna, Elsa's silence was a confirmation that she thought Anna coming along was selfish and wrong, in addition to being very stressful and a huge burden to her. Elsa already had so much to deal with too, and the thought of that just made Anna feel that much worse over coming in the first place.

Anna exited the room and made her way back onto the deck. King Micheal had gone back onto his ship which had undocked, while some of the crew members were chiseling away the ice spikes that Elsa accidentally made on the deck. Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven meanwhile were sitting around waiting for Anna to return and explain what had happened with Elsa. They all stood up when she stepped outside, eagerly awaiting an answer.

"What happened?" Olaf was the first to ask.

Anna though ignored the question. She turned and sat down on an overturned bucket in silence. Kristoff quickly sat down next to her, looking at her face for any sort of clue. All he saw though was the look of sadness and disappointment on her face.

"We shouldn't have come Kristoff, this was a mistake, this was a big, big mistake" - Anna whispered to him. She rested her face on her hands, feeling so overwhelmed with guilt over everything that had happened

Kristoff immediately felt bad at hearing that, because he was the one who convinced Anna to stow away on the ship instead of just stalling her at the palace until Elsa had set sail, so now he felt responsible for the whole mess.

"Everything will be okay Anna. Everything will be okay" was all Kristoff was able to say as he wrapped his arms around her. While Anna felt that she was causing Elsa so much grief over the past few days, Kristoff felt like he was causing everyone around him so much grief over the past few days. Even Olaf was saddened at how down everyone was. Personally, he blamed Sven.

* * *

><p>Both ships sailed on, the peaks of distant mountains were appearing on the horizon as night began to fall. They would be arriving at Houkkaville in a few days time.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7: Houkkaville

The peaks of the distant mountains grew taller as both ships approached the inlet to the fjord. These mountains dwarfed all the mountains back in Arendelle except for the famous North Mountain, and the winter winds that screamed down the sides of the mountains were just as intimidating as well. Blocks of ice were starting to collect along the shore, and had they come any later, the fjord would have been sealed off completely. It wasn't impossible for Elsa to have used her own powers to carve a path through the ice herself, but the less she had to use her powers for right now, the better.

Elsa, along with Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf, were all still troubled with the incident that happened when Elsa first confronted Anna on the deck of the ship. But rather then open up old wounds to justify their own actions, everyone just decided to keep quiet about it and accept that they were all in it together, whether they liked it or not.

Elsa quietly observed the steep slopes of the mountains on either side of the fjord as the royal ship tailed King Micheal's ship up the inlet. Anna sat on the other side of the ship trying to do the same thing, while Kristoff and Sven sat nearby as Kristoff fished off the side of the ship. Olaf meanwhile was all the way up in the crows nest of the ship because he thought he saw something shiny up there.

"Admiral Angus, how much longer until we reach Houkkaville?" - Elsa asked out loud, even though she already knew the answer.

"The town lies just around the bend up ahead, we should be there within the next hour or so mah queen" Admiral Angus bellowed from the steering wheel, which looked like it might snap under the grip of his gigantic hands.

Elsa made her way to the very front of the ship, stroking the side of the railing with her gloved hand as she did so. Despite the nervous breakdown she suffered from yesterday, the bobbing of the ship and all the other elements of nature had calmed her nerves enough that she didn't fear having another accident. She could probably have taken her gloves off, but she decided to leave them on for the time being. Just to be safe.

King Micheal's ship turned around the bend in the inlet towards Houkkaville, which was still out of sight. His ship leaned as it turned around the bend, looking like it might capsize in the process, While the royal ship that Elsa was sailing on looked as if it would be too big to even fit around the tight turn in the first place. Admiral Angus though knew the dimensions of the ship like the back of his hand, and he managed to wheel the ship around the corner as if he had done so a dozen times before.

That was when Elsa saw Houkkaville for the first time. Houkkaville as a kingdom looked….. Pathetic. The town sat under the forever-grey sky as if it was waiting for its own funeral, and it consisted almost entirely out of tiny wooden huts of homes and businesses. The tallest building in the entire Kingdom was King Micheal's palace, which looked like an abandoned wooden fort that was 2 stories tall and half buried under snow. The royal ship of Arendelle itself looked as if it had more wood and firepower in it then the entire Kingdom of Houkkaville put together, and it easily dwarfed all the buildings in the kingdom itself.

A few hours passed as the ship moved closer and closer to Houkkaville before Angus gave the order to drop anchor. "Alright lads, this is as close as we'll be able to get without running aground. Prepare the longboat!" Angus bellowed, and a flurry of crew members began to prepare to disembark.

The longboat, the glorified rowboat that ferried the royal family from the harbor to the ship when the ship couldn't fit in the harbor itself, hung behind one of the massive sails on the ship, suspended by a handful of ropes. The Longboat was lowered over the side of the ship until it was at the same height as the ships deck itself before Angus himself helped Elsa on board. Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf also boarded the longboat while Sven stayed below deck in the stable. There wasn't enough room for him to fit on the longboat.

Angus gave the order, and the crew carefully lowered the longboat into the frigid waters of the harbor, where crewmen on board the longboat promptly began to row towards the shore. They pulled up next to King Micheals ship, which was only barely longer than the longboat itself.

King Micheal awaited her at the dock, along with a handful of guards. "Queen Elsa, welcome to the kingdom of Houkkaville!" He said as he spread his arms and took a deep bow. His warm welcome though did nothing to make the entire town look any less dreary or depressing.

He extended his hand to Queen Elsa as the longboat pulled up to the dock, but she waved off his gesture. She had slipped on winter boots rather then wear her normal heels and had no problems finding her own footing again. Anna on the other hand wasn't as coordinated…. She needed King Micheals hand, Kristoff's assistance from behind, and the assistance of a guard to get onto the dock without falling into the water.

Once everyone was off the longboat, King Micheal began to lead them towards his 'palace' on the other side of the town. As they passed through the town though, Elsa could feel people gazing out around every corner, gawking at her. She could only make out the eyes and the tops of the heads of the people peering out at her, whether they were hiding behind the edge of a window or around the corner of a hut. While it only sort of bothered her, none of it bothered her as much as when she looked ahead and saw it for the first time…

Deep and up into the distant mountains, on the fringe of Elsa's visibility, was the outlaws ice castle…. A path carved into the mountain itself zig-zagged up towards the castle, which stretched between two mountain peaks. Elsa's ice castle that she built looked like a towering and elegantly carved block of ice that was widdled into perfection by wind and magic itself, but the outlaws ice castle looked as if it was designed to do one thing and one thing only… Be an impenetrable fortress. The Ice Castle looked like a gigantic ice box with walls that were 12 feet thick. The only windows it had were narrow ones located near the very top of the castle, they served only as a vantage point for looking out onto Houkkaville below. The wind that had been driving hard at Elsa and everyone else in the landing party from the moment the ship pulled into the inlet seemed to be coming from the outlaw's castle itself, and Elsa's heart began to sink out of fear of what lied up there. Of _who_ lied up there.

"That's where the outlaw hides." King Micheal said, like he knew that Elsa was staring at the distant castle at the same time he was. "We've managed to keep him pinned up there for years, but every time we try to break in to….. Finish the job, we fail."

Then Anna and Kristoff noticed the ice castle for the first time. Anna gave a surprised and fearful gasp while Kristoff could only come up with a "whoa…."

"Some people in the town call it 'The fortress', while others know it simply as 'The Outlaw's haven", but most people around here refer to it as, 'Hiisi Torni'" A random one of King MIcheal's guards said.

"Hiisi Torni? What the heck does that mean?" - Kristoff asked in confusion

"It's an old phrase that roughly translates to 'Satan's Castle' " - King Micheal said, irritated at the guard for bringing it up in the first place.

Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff shuddered at the ominous translation, but Olaf didn't even seem to notice, as he was more preoccupied trying to see the faces of the townspeople peeking out from everywhere. Elsa could feel the ice once again sliding through her veins towards her fingertips, and she stared down at her hands wondering how she would be able to defeat this outlaw. Anna meanwhile was looking at Elsa wondering the same thing.

They soon made their way to the front of King Micheal's palace, where a single guard patrolled the roof. "King Micheal has returned! Open the gate!" He yelled to someone below

The wooden doors to king Micheal's palace creaked open, and everyone hurriedly made their way inside as a winter storm began to descend on the town outside.

The inside of the palace actually looked quite nice despite its shamble appearance from the outside. Most of the walls were painted white, and were well lit by torches. Portraits of all sorts hung throughout the walls in the hallways, some of which were painted with the town of Houkkaville in the background. In the pictures, the town looked prosperous and bustling under the warm sun, and the townspeople in it all looked pleasant and in good spirits, a stark comparison to what Elsa and everyone else had seen just moments ago.

'_10 years of eternal winter would have that effect on a town I suppose'_ Anna thought to herself, wondering why anybody with a brain would choose to stay in such a dreary place after ten _years_ of winter.

"Who are all the people in these pictures?" - Kristoff asked.

King Micheal turned his head towards the pictures himself. "Some of these are pictures of past rulers, but many of these are the portraits of wealthy merchants who used to do business in town before it became forever Frozen….. Houkkaville was one of the northern-most trading posts, making it a great pit stop for trade ships in the past. Then when it became entombed in snow and ice, they all stopped coming."

King Micheal led the group into the main hall, which for some reason was packed with local townspeople. They all let out a collective cheer as King Micheal entered, but few of them even noticed Anna, Elsa, and everyone else who followed him in. King Micheal made his way to the front of the main hall where his throne sat, beaming and waving to everyone in the process. He was showered with praise and compliments from the mob of townspeople as if he was a celebrity instead of just their teenage king.

He made his way to his throne and motioned everyone to be quiet, which they did immediately.

"My friends, we will soon be victorious in defeating the Ice King, because I have succeeded in convincing Queen Elsa of Arendelle to come to our little kingdom to end this eternal winter, and bring peace and prosperity back to our town!" - He preached. The crowd erupted in cheers. He may not have looked like much, but King MIcheal sure knew how to rile up a mob.

He continued "The Winter Solstice is just three days away, but I can assure you, now that we can match the Ice King's powers, we will end this eternal winter before the Winter Solstice comes!". The crowd erupted into another realm of cheering. Looking at all the hope of the townspeople for Elsa to stop the Ice King made her very nervous, cause if she failed, then they all would be destroyed, figuratively.

_Though maybe literally._

The ice in her veins were now pooling in her fingers now. Elsa still hadn't calmed her nerves from when she first set eyes on the Ice King's ominous castle high up in the mountains, and watching King Micheal pin all the hopes and dreams on Elsa was only making it worse, a LOT worse.

While Elsa began to back towards the door, Anna began making her way into the mob to get a better view of King Micheal as he spoke. Some of the people in the crowd though mistook Anna for Elsa, the girl who came to save them, and so they began to shower her with thanks.

"You've come to save us!" - One woman cheered  
>"Thank you so much!" - A man next to her chimed<br>"We know you can do it!" "We're all behind you 100%!" "Thank you for coming to end this winter!"

The compliments and cheers were now pouring in from all directions as Anna tried to explain to the people that she wasn't actually the one who had ice powers, but before she could clarify, a short, hairy man cleared a space in the crowd in front of her…..

And began to sing.

"So you're the Queen whose come to save us,  
>and you're the one causing all this fuss,<br>well be warned young lady about this outlaw  
>he'll spare no expense to try to hurt ya…." - He started.<p>

Another woman then began to sing.

"This outlaw IS a vicious man,  
>But you can defeat him, we know you can!<br>Be prepared, and watch your back  
>Cause no know one knows how he'll attack"<p>

Then all the citizens started to give various warnings to Anna about the Ice King.

"Legend says he has no heart"  
>"Given the chance he'll tear you apart!"<br>"Showing mercy is just not his type"  
><em>"<em>I even heard_ he doesn't wipe."_

Now people began to river dance and even throw each other violently across the room as everyone began to sing in unison

"Watch your step, watch your back,  
>Give him a chance and he will attack!<br>He'll freeze you fingers to your knees,  
>then torture you and laugh with glee!<br>So watch your step, watch your back  
>Cause no one knows how he'll attack!<br>He could freeze you solid then cut off your hair  
>Or simply feed you to a bear!<br>Maybe he'll do something new or rare  
>But no matter what, he wont even care!<br>So watch your step, watch your back,  
>no one knows how he'll attack!<br>Cause when you go up into his lair,  
>there is no telling how you'll fare<br>Some lost a hand, others lost their butt  
>Only the lucky got a minor cut<br>When you fight him be prepared,  
>or else he'll stun you with his stare!<br>So watch your step and watch your back,  
>give him a chance and he'll attack!"<p>

The man from the beginning then shoved his way back in front of Anna

"When you go up to fight him  
>don't say we didn't warn ya,<br>Because no one has _ever  
><em>beaten the Ice King outlaw"

The mob of people, who were bumping into each other throughout the entire song, then began to fight one another viciously until it was all one big brawl. Anna had only just made her way back to Kristoff and Olaf before the mass fighting broke out, and the three of them just stood there and watched in confusion as the chaos unfolded. People threw punches, threw chairs, threw anything they could get their hands on, hellbent on beating each other senseless…. Men, women, guards, even children were all at each others throats, for literally no reason at all.

"These people are _nuts_" - Kristoff muttered to Anna

"And not the good kind of nuts either" - Olaf

Anna though didn't pay attention and she looked around the room worried and confused.

"Guys, _where's Elsa?"_


	8. Chapter 8: Omens

Elsa had slipped out of the door of the main hall into the hallway when she first heard the mob of people giving warnings about what she was up against. No one else was in the hall, so no one else saw her sit down into a fetal position with both of her hands pulling out her hair.

_Get it together Elsa, get it together!_ Was all she could think to herself. She had never felt so much ice in her hands before. It used to be that it would just pool in her fingertips, now it was pooling in her entire hands. She began to doubt if even the gloves could keep her from having another freak accident.

_Don't feel it…. Conceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show_

She had never felt so lost before, without any sense of direction whatsoever. Why had she agreed to sail hundreds of miles away from her beloved home to fight some outlaw with ice powers when she already knew that she wasn't exactly 'battle-ready'….

But then she flash backed to being on the deck of the ship. The wind blowing through her hair, the smell of the ocean tantalizing her nostrils, the sounds of the waves brushing up against the side of the ship…. She had never felt any of those kinds of feelings before, and it was all so…. _Liberating_

She was calm now, the ice in her hands receded back into her arms, and her breathing had calmed down. She almost didn't notice Anna barge through the door right next to her.

"Elsa! Oh no, are you okay? Please tell me you're okay!" Anna panicked, crouching down next to Elsa to examine her while Kristoff and Olaf closed the doors behind them.

"Yeah, yes i'm good" Elsa said with a slight smile. In addition to the flashback from being at sea, knowing that Anna always looked out for her better than any soldier in Arendelle was comforting. She looked up at Anna, whose eyes were wide in fear and worry for her sister. She must have looked like a mess to her…. "I'm glad you came Anna, I'm sorry for not telling you that earlier" She said with a reassuring smile

"Oh no, she's gone insane! What now?" - Olaf yelped. Kristoff and Anna though were relieved at hearing Elsa say that, and they both helped her up onto her feet right as King Micheal entered the hall.

"Oh thank god, I thought for a second you guys were sucked into the mob!" He said after spotting the group.

"Speaking about that, why did they all break out into a fight like that?" - Kristoff asked. Everyone else was wondering the same thing.

"The people of Houkkaville have always been a bunch that can easily get worked up into a frenzy….." King Micheal said with a slight laugh while screeching the back of his head. "Sometimes it comes in handy, other times it really doesn't." Right then someone was thrown out of the doors and hit the wall on the other side of the hallway. The person then grabbed a portrait hanging on the wall, and charged back into the brawl with the intent of beating the hell out of someone with it.

King Micheal, who witnessed the incident first hand, turned back around to face the group and quickly changed the subject. "Before we take on the Ice King, there's someone else that we need to meet with first."

"Who?" - Anna

"Theres a wise old wizard who lives on the outskirts of town who has collected a vast array of magical, powerful artifacts. He was the oen who foresaw the coming of the Ice King, and he has tried to help us before in dealing with the Ice King, but most of the time he keeps to himself and likes to protect the stuff he has. In order to defeat the Ice King, it would be best to have a little extra magic on our side of the fight in addition to Queen Elsa's powers, so we should meet him before we set out" - King Micheal

Elsa became more relieved with the knowledge that she wasn't the only one with magical powers who would be going up against the Ice King.

"Sounds good, when do we, uh, meet him?" - Anna

"It'll have to wait until tomorrow. You see, every night, the winter storms that come from the Ice King makes it impossible to go outside, so we'll never be able to make it to the Wizard's house before we all freeze to death. Therefore we must wait until tomorrow at the very first break in the storm." - King Micheal.

"Got it. So….. Where do we sleep?" - Olaf

"Well, most of the rooms in the palace are where the people fighting in the main hall sleep, so I'll let y'all have my room for the night and I'll camp out somewhere else." - King Micheal offered

* * *

><p>King Micheal's room looked like something similar to the inside of a barn, which suited Kristoff just fine. The bare wooden walls looked nothing like the rest of the inside of the palace that had white walls, and only a single torch over the bed that was shoved towards the corner of the room offered any light. A fluffy carpet dominated most of the room, with dressers and bookshelves lining the rest of the walls. On the wall hanging above the bed was the only portrait in the room, and it was one of King Micheal tackling a bull to the ground with his bare hands. The portrait showed Micheal with bulging muscles and veins popping out on top of them, a powerful jawline, and long hair that blew in the breeze as he wrestled the bull to the ground. The picture was actually hysterical to anyone who actually knew what King Micheal really looked like.<p>

"Kinda narcissistic aint it?" - Anna asked after she managed to stop laughing.

"Totally…." - Olaf said, before turning around and whispering to Kristoff "What does 'narcissistic' mean?"

Kristoff though didn't answer, he was laying down on the fluffy carpet which surely would be his bed for the next 8 to 10 hours. It wasn't too soft, but it was certainly better than sleeping on the wooden floor itself.

Elsa examined the bed, which barely qualified as a bed itself. The bed looked as if it could have once been a luxurious bed stuffed with feathers, but now it looked like it was 20 years past its throw-away date. She sat down on the bed to test it out, and it felt as if it was stuffed with sticks and straw, not feathers. The pillow also looked to be past its expiration date, but it was significantly softer than the bed.

Elsa gazed up at Anna, who was going through King Micheal's books. "Anna you shouldn't be going through someone else's stuff" - Elsa muttered.

"I'm not gonna be able to go to sleep if I dont have anything to read" - Anna replied as she browsed the short but decent collection of books that King Micheal had on his bookshelf

"What are you looking for?" - Kristoff asked

"OH, find a book of lullaby's please! I love a good lullaby" Olaf said, as he eagerly sat down next to Kristoff on the carpet.

Something else though caught Anna's eyes. There was one book on the bookshelf that was very unique and not like the rest of the books. It was tall and thick, with a very dark cover and weird inscriptions written on it. Most of the other books on the shelves resembled books that she and read back in Arendelle, but she never saw a book quite like this one.

She opened the book, which turned out to be a book of tall tales and ancient stories. As she flipped through the pages, there were stories of mermaids, angels, demons, trolls, and giants. Then she found one that made her heart stop….

It was a story that had pictures showing a man with ice coming from his hands.

"Guys look at this!" Anna said, eyes transfixed on the picture. She sat down on the bed near Elsa's feet, and Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf all quickly positioned themselves around Anna to see what she was looking at.

"Is that…. Is that the Ice King?" - Kristoff

"Thats what I was thinking." - Anna

"Can you read what it says?" - Elsa

"No, it's in some weird language, I have no idea what it says" - Anna

"The pictures are usually the best part of a book anyways" - Olaf whispered to Kristoff

"I bet the trolls would know what it says." - Kristoff

They all gazed at the picture, which showed the ice king blowing snow and ice from his hands onto people who were watching nearby. The Ice King himself looked pretty young, with pale white skin and paper white hair. He wore a loose fitting blue hoodie, loose fitting brown pants, and old brown winter boots that were the same color as his pants. If you squinted carefully, you could also make out that the Ice King had very blue eyes

"Is there anything on the next page?" - Kristoff

Anna flipped the page, which had too pictures. The first showed the Ice King getting hit with a blast of ice, which came from an unknown source. The ice blast hit him right in the chest, and it had flung him backwards off of his feet. His eyes were pinched shut in pain, and his hands clutched his heart.

The next image showed the Ice King lying down on a table somewhere, with a very old man standing over him. The old man had very grey skin, with only a few long strands of white hair coming out of his head. He was wearing clothing made out of what looked like wolf fur, and he had a long crocked nose that bent at a 45 degree angle over his own mouth. As the old man stood over the unconscious Ice king, he held in one hand a knife that was stained red with fresh blood, and in the other hand, _he held a frozen heart. _

"Whoa" - Kristoff gasped

"What does it mean?" - Olaf asked in confusion, looking around at everyone else

"I think that it's saying that someone, or some_thing_, hit the Ice King with snow or ice in the heart…." - Anna said, pointing to the first picture

"And here it looks like that his heart became frozen, _and so they removed it_" - Elsa finished, pointing to the other picture. Her eyes widened in both wonder and fear, similar to everyone else in the room.

"Is there anything on the next page?" - Olaf asked

Anna turned the page again, and there were two more images. One of which showed the Ice King walking towards his castle on one side of the page, with his head turned around looking back at the town with disgust and anger. This time, he was wearing a long sleeved black shirt and black pants, with weird white markings all over them, and he was holding something in his hand that couldn't be seen. It was the other image though that grabbed everyones attention. In it, the Ice King, who was wearing all black and also a mask, was shooting ice out of his hands, but it was being hit by the ice coming out from someone else's hand who was battling him.

_It was Elsa _

"What the…. Elsa, is that YOU?" - Kristoff asked in bewilderment

Elsa was transfixed on the picture along with everyone else. In it, the girl who was fighting the Ice King had long white hair that was draped over her shoulder in a braid. She also had pale skin, was wearing a light blue shirt and light blue pants, and she was wearing dark green gloves over her hands. The girl in the picture not only looked like Elsa, _it was the spitting image of her._

"It must be some sort of, prophecy!" - Anna said in astonishment.

"Quick, what's on the next page?" - Olaf almost yelled

Anna turned the page again, but there was nothing there. The page behind the one showing Elsa and the Ice King fighting was all text that none of them could read, and the page that came after that one had been torn out..… The page after the missing one was a different story about a different tale.

"Look, the last page is missing!" - Elsa said as she pointed out the remnants of the page that had been torn out.

"So then how does the fight end?" - Kristoff

"Maybe the person who tore out the page knows" - Olaf

"Wh-who could that be?" - Anna

"It could be anybody…" - Elsa said, turning the page with her shaking hand back to the one that had the picture of her and the Ice King fighting each other. She couldn't get over how much she looked like the girl in the picture. Not only that, she could even recognize the clothes that the girl was wearing since she had clothes that looked just like them which she brought on the trip.

Anna, noticing how upset that Elsa was becoming while looking at the picture, quickly snapped the book shut and cradled it in her own arms. "We need to ask King Micheal what this book is and where he got it from first thing in the morning" She said, looking around at everyone else

"First thing in the morning? We need to ask him what this book is right NOW" - Kristoff

"So... No story time?" - Olaf

"Kristoff, I appreciate your concern…." - Elsa said as she stood up off the bed. She continued "But I have had a long, long day today, and I dont exactly think I can handle any other dark prophecy or bad omen before the fight…"

Kristoff replied, but Elsa held up her hand and motioned for him to be quiet. She paused, took a deep breath, then continued.

"The Winter Solstice is now two days from now, which means that if the Ice King isn't defeated before then, we will have to face him when he is at his most powerful, which is why we _have_ to face him before then

"Right, but wouldn't that be when you're at your most powerful as well?" - Kristoff asked

"Yeah, if the Winter Solstice makes him strong, it should make you strong too!" - Olaf nodded feverishly in agreement

Elsa looked into the eyes of each of them. She had to tell them, right then and right there.

She took a deep breath. "The last time the Winter Solstice came, it was a month or two after Kristoff had moved in, and a couple months after I almost froze Arendelle…. Do you guys remember that day?" - Elsa

Olaf nodded. "Right, that was when you almost froze Arendelle because you lost control of powers while that Prince Hans guy was trying to kill everyone."

Elsa shook her head. "No, no, not that day, I mean the day the last time the Winter Solstice came. Do you remember what happened on _that_ day?" - She clarified to Olaf. Anna and Kristoff already knew which day she was really referring to.

Anna was the one who remembered.

"The festival!" She gasped as she looked at Elsa, who nodded in response. Every year during the Winter Solstice, Arendelle held a festival that would celebrate the days of Winter winding down before the arrival of Spring. The festival consisted of ice fishing in the harbor, sledding contests, snowball fighting for kids, a day off of work for everyone in town, and a variety of other things for everyone to enjoy.

"That's right, the festival. Do you happen to remember where you guys were that day and where I was that day?" - Elsa asked

Anna again was the first to remember. "You told the three of us to go enjoy the festival and that you had to stay at the palace and take care of some work that you had been putting off for quite a while"

Elsa nodded again, then raised her hand to her chin. "That… Was a bit of a lie" She said after a pause.

Everyone else sat in silence, anxiously waiting for Elsa to continue.

She lowered her hand and held it with her other hand. "During the Winter Solstice, I felt a surge in my powers that I had never felt before, and never felt since. Even when I wore my gloves, I couldn't help accidentally freezing things wherever I went, even if I was touching them or not..… You guys were gone the entire day, which allowed me to quickly replace the stuff that was ruined before you ever even noticed.… I had never had so little control over my powers before that day. I thought I was going to freeze Arendelle all over again, but I only just managed to keep it in, and keep the incident concealed" - Elsa finished

There was a slight pause as Elsa's words hung in the air. Kristoff was the first to speak

"So wait, that means that during the Winter Solstice….." - He started.

Elsa finished his sentence. "During the Winter Solstice, I'm not at my strongest, _I'm at my weakest_."

"So then the Ice King _has_ to be defeated _before_ the Winter Solstice…. He has to be defeated tomorrow!…" - Anna

"Dont worry guys I know what to do!" - Olaf said standing up, everyone now looked at him in bewilderment.

Olaf continued. "Lets all get back to the ship…. Get out of here without anyone noticing, and get back to Arendelle like there's no tomorrow!"

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Olaf, we cant just _leave" _

"Elsa, m-maybe we should" - Anna said as she stood up off the bed. "I mean, you, _really_ don't seem ready for this fight tomorrow, and if the Ice King isn't defeated tomorrow, then we definitely wont be able to defeat him on the Winter Solstice…. So maybe we _should_ leave."

"Well wait a second, How would we tell King Micheal that we aren't gonna do it? You saw how crazy the mob of people in the palace is, if we tell him we're going to leave they might tear him apart, or worse, us!" - Kristoff countered

"Then lets, _not_ tell him" - Anna. "Lets just, sneak out! Trust me, we can do it, i'm _really_ good at this kind of thing"

"I like Anna's idea, lets get out of here and leave King Micheal on his own, quick!" - Olaf said as he quickly made his way towards the door.

"GUYS" - Elsa yelled out, almost losing it.

Everyone froze, mostly out of fear that Elsa might have an incident again.

Elsa took several breathes before she managed to collect herself. After she calmed down, she sat down back onto the bed and let it all out. "We can't just leave…. First off, we came all this way, we cant just chicken out the day before the fight because we're all nervous… Second, if we get caught, there's no way King Micheal would be able to let us leave, not with the people in here as crazy as they are. If King Micheal let us leave, they probably would tear him apart, which means he would be forced to make us stay… If the mob themselves are the one catching us trying to leave, then thats a whole other problem completely… lastly and most importantly though, whether or not we're ready for it doesn't change anything. If i've learned anything as Queen, or as a person in general, it's that life doesn't wait until you're ready to drop something big on you….. Life doesn't care if you're ready or not, things just happen whether you're ready or not, and you can either face it head on even if you're scared to death, or let it crush you."

Nobody expected Elsa to be the one giving the big pep-talk for why they should stay, but if being Queen has taught Elsa anything, it's how to be a leader. Everyone unfroze from their stance and exchanged glances with one another. Although no one said anything, everyone was in agreement that Elsa was bent on facing the Ice King, and that the best thing they all could do to help her, was to support her decision….

"Okay Elsa, we'll stay…" - Anna finally said in a quiet voice

"….And we're here to help you too….." - Kristoff added

"…..Even if it means we all die a horrible, terrible death…." - Olaf finished with a big smile.

Elsa smiled at them all, thankful that they all were going to support her and be there for her no matter what.

_Everything is okay, everything is okay_

* * *

><p>He looked down on the town through the window as the nightly storms rolled in, wondering what kind of attempt the town would this time to try to stop him. His eyes became perplexed by the massive ship that was sitting in the Houkkaville harbor, which was bigger than the entire town put together.<p>

"They'll be coming you know" A familiar voice said from behind him. "They always try their hardest on the eve of the Winter Solstice, and who knows what came on board that massive ship"

The Ice King gave a cold smile. "It won't matter what they've brought with them, not when they see what I have in store for them when they get here..."


	9. Chapter 9: The Wizard

All four of them slept soundly. They were all plenty nervous about the day ahead of them, but the exhaustion from yesterday made sleep come to them easy. Elsa woke up first due the smell of Anna's foot which was laying on the pillow right next to her face.

She sat up in the bed and casually shoved Anna further to the side of the bed. Elsa and Anna had agreed to sleep foot to head so that Anna's snoring wouldn't wake Elsa up in the middle of the night. Elsa rubbed her eyes and her blurry vision slowly came into focus. She could feel that her hair was a mess, but poor Anna looked like she had half of an afro growing out of her head, as a single stream of drool maneuvered down her cheek. Kristoff was sleeping on the floor, cap over his face, while Olaf was sleeping on top of Kristoff's chest as if Kristoff was just a gigantic warm pillow. Olaf would move up and down as Kristoff inhaled and exhaled, it must have felt like he was being slowly rocked to sleep like a baby.

Elsa got out of bed, stretched, and quietly made her way over towards the door where all of her luggage was sitting with everyone else's. The guards must have moved it into their room early in the morning after the nightly storm had subsided, but before she had woken up. She quietly opened up her suitcase and pulled out the clothes she packed for 'battle day', a plain pair of a light blue shirt and some light blue pants….. They weren't exactly stylish or cozy, but they were ideal for maneuvering around as if in a battle, which is why she grabbed them when she hurriedly tried to sneak away from Arrendele. She stared at them as she held them in their hands though, remembering the picture in the book Anna found that showed her wearing them as she battled the Ice King…..

She would have worn something different just to falsify the image in the book, but this was really the only thing she had grabbed that was suitable for a potential fight.

She looked around at everyone else in he room, wondering if she could slip them on real quick without anyone else waking up when she was half naked. After waiting a good minute, she decided to go for it. She made sure to go as quick as possible without making any kind of noise that could wake anyone.

She slipped on her shirt and was going for her pants right when Olaf started to talk.

"Sven, what are you doing, hehe, you crazy reindeer" - He was sleep talking, brushing his hand over Kristoff's face as if it was Sven. "Whoa, what happened to your face? Did someone hit you with a hot shovel or something?" He asked before dozing off into a deep sleep

Elsa fought off a giggle, and finished slipping up her pants. They were a bit looser than she remembered them being, even though she couldn't remember the last time she actually wore them.

Right as she finished, Anna rolled out of bed onto the floor. "OUCH!…. Ow, what the, ow!" She cried out

The thud startled Olaf. "I DIDN'T DO IT" he screamed, which caused Kristoff to leap up out of his slumber scared to death, accidentally flinging Olaf across the room since he had been sleeping right on Kristoff's chest

Elsa watched the whole thing and she broke down laughing, she just couldn't help it. Watching her sister fall out of bed, causing Olaf to freak out, causing Kristoff to wake up and accidentally fling Olaf across the room was just _hysterical_!

She must have laughed nonstop for a good two minutes. "M-morning" She stammered after catching her breath. She hadn't had a good laugh like that in a very long time, and while everyone else was still cranky about being woken up in such violent manners, they were comforted to hear Elsa actually _laughing_.

"Ha-ha, laugh it up" - Kristoff said sarcastically, as he got up to stretch.

Olaf put himself back together, after failing to do it correctly the first time, while Anna stumbled her way over to the bags of luggage to fish out what she was gonna wear. She pulled out a flowery blue-green dress that was hastily folded into her bag, and made her way over to the bed to put it on.

"Did you take that out of my closet?" - Elsa asked, as she remembered distinctly that that dress belonged to her.

Anna looked at her, then back at the dress, then back at Elsa. "Oh, what? Oh, THIS. Umm, sorta? Well all my stuff was in the laundry when I had to leave so I kinda, had to, raid your closet for stuff..."

"Anna what have I told you about wearing my stuff?" - Elsa said, suddenly irritated. Next to her blue dress she made herself, the flowery dress that Anna was holding was her other favorite dress, and she was pretty protective of her stuff.

"Relax, I'm not gonna ruin it" Anna said as she began to put it on.

"Whoa there, hold on a sec" - Elsa said, motioning for Anna to stop. She looked over to Kristoff who was putting on a different pair of boots. "You, outside" She said, motioning towards the door.

Kristoff looked kind of confused. "Me?…. Why? What for?"

Elsa gave him a sassy look of disbelief. "I am NOT letting my sister change out of her clothes when you're in the same room with her, so get outside. You too Olaf"

Olaf looked up at her, then proceeded on taking out his eyes and hiding them behind his back "Don't worry, I wont see nothing!"

"No Olaf, outside. You too Kristoff" - Elsa said, motioning once again to the door.

Kristoff and Olaf then begrudgingly got up, and made their way out the door as Elsa shut it behind them

"Thanks for that sis" - Anna said, as she had slipped out of her clothes and proceeded on putting on the dress. "Though to be honest, Kristoff has seen me change out of my clothes once before"

"WHAT?" Elsa said, staring at Anna

Anna realized she had freaked Elsa out, and immediately clarified "It was an accident! Don't worry! He walked in on me while I was changing, just once, then he walked out. He didn't see anything fishy, or, _do,_ anything fishy"

Elsa sighed and rolled her eyes "Don't scare me like that Anna" - She muttered. _She's gonna give me a heart attack one of these days _

"What are you gonna do when Kristoff asks to marry me?" - Anna said as she stood up and smoothed the wrinkles out of Elsa's dress that she now wore

"I have a bottle of wine that i'm saving for when that happens" - She replied while organizing the clothes in Anna's suitcase. Anna gave her a smirk behind her back and slipped on her shoes.

"Okay, you two can come in now!" - Anna yelled out to Kristoff and Olaf, who were still waiting in the hall

Olaf barged back through the door first, eyes still missing from his head.

"Did I leave my eyes in here?" He said before giggling. "I'd lose my own head if it wasn't on my shoulders" He began feeling around the room for them.

"Olaf you _always_ lose your own head… I'm surprised you keep managing to find it." Kristoff said, picking up Olaf's eyes from the corner of the room that they rolled into. "Here" He stuck them onto Olaf's face.

"Ahhh, much better" Olaf said, as he adjusted his eyes to where they used to be. "Alright, so, what do we do now?"

"Breakfast, probably" - Kristoff muttered. Anna and Olaf's face lit up since they were starving, and the four of them made their way into the main hall looking for King Micheal.

* * *

><p>The main room in the palace, which was the scene of the huge brawl yesterday, was a complete mess, with broken furniture just shoved aside towards the walls while the people of the town sat down and ate on the floor. King Micheal was handing out soup to people at the front of the room, where a line of people were waiting.<p>

The four of them all got in line and waited. Anna looked around at the people, many of whom had bruises on their face but still seemed to be upbeat and excited for the day. What stood out though was that many of the people were trying to eat their the soup they held with forks, and every time they tried to take a bite, the soup would fall through the fork back into the bowl. The people didn't realize what were happening though, and they kept repeating the exercise over and over and over to no avail.

Anna wasn't the only one who noticed. Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf also noticed people doing the same thing, each of which were just as puzzled at the sight.

"Can you believe this?" - Kristoff whispered to the group

"I know! Who serves soup for breakfast?" - Olaf

They made their way up the line without giving it another thought, and were soon face to face with King Micheal.

"Morning everyone, how'd you sleep last night?" He asked with a beaming smile, handing each of them a bowl of soup.

"Like a rock, in that it felt like I was sleeping on rocks" - Kristoff joked, causing Anna to elbow him in the ribs with a frown. "We all slept fine, thank you" Anna said to King Micheal with a smile.

The four of them sat down near the throne and proceeded on slurping the soup straight from the bowl since none of them were given spoons.

"Guh, it tastes like ocean water and leaves" - Kristoff muttered in disappointment

"At least its warm" - Anna said, though she also wasn't too thrilled about the taste of it.

"Ahhh, it gives you that warm, fuzzy, melting feeling on the inside doesn't it?" - Olaf said, as steam started to come out from various parts of his body. Had it not been for his own personal flurry, the poor little guy would probably have melted into nothing.

"There's probably some better food on the ship, I'll send a guard to send for some stuff when we head out" - Elsa said, trying to cheer up everyone else. "Until then though, eat up" She then tried to slurp the soup herself, but then proceeded on spitting half of it back out into the bowl after tasting it. Kristoff and Anna both laughed, and the four of them proceeded on eating the soup while their faces distorted from how bad it tasted.

King Micheal sat down in front of them. "Sorry for the meager meal, but we have to make due with what we have here in Houkkaville"

"So whats the plan? The plan for defeating the Ice King?" - Kristoff

"First, we are gonna hand out whatever weapons we have to the people, and then, on the way up to the Ice King's castle, we'll stop by the Wizard to see if he will help us" - King Micheal

"Okay, and after we get the wizards help, how do we get in?" - Anna

"The castle is locked from the outside, in order to get in, all we have to do is remove the lock and barge in" - King Micheal

Elsa was confused. "Wait, why is his castle locked from the _outside_?"

King Micheal clarified. "The Ice King's castle, is actually more like a prison…. When we chased him up there, we actually chased him into a corner since the mountains up there cannot be traversed. So he built a fortress to keep us out, but we braced the doors from the outside so that he was trapped up there."

That also confused Elsa, along with Anna and Kristoff.

"If he's been trapped up there and couldn't leave for 10 years, wouldn't he have starved to death a long—" Kristoff started

"It's confusing yes but trust me, he's stuck up there" - King Micheal interrupted. "Once we get in, we locate the Ice King, and we fight him, and then win!"

Anna and Elsa exchanged glances, it seemed like King MIcheal hadn't thought out this plan _at all_. Kristoff also figured out the same thing.

"And how exactly do you plan on 'beating him'?" - Kristoff asked, fishing for some more details

"Well thats what you're here for!" - King Micheal said, motioning to all of them with his arms.

_Oh no, he thinks that WE have a plan to beat the Ice King!_ Elsa thought to herself. The group exchanged nervous glances, each of them coming to the same conclusion. Before any of them could explain the situation to King Micheal, he had stood up and quickly made his way to the center of the room.

"My people! The time has come! Everyone head outside to collect your weapons, and then, we will head up the mountain, and once and for all, defeat the Ice King!" - King Micheal said, rallying the people. They all let out a cheer and hurriedly made their way out of the hall and towards the entrance to collect their weapons.

Elsa, Anna, Kristoff sat their bowls on the ground and got up to go talk to King Micheal, while Olaf picked up the bowls and brought them with him.

Kristoff was the first to reach him. "Do you actually have an idea for how to defeat the Ice King or were you expecting us to come up with something?"

Anna finished second "Cause, you know, we were under the, uh, impression, that, uh, _you_, had come up with something."

He turned to face them with a smile as he led them into the hallway. "Don't worry, I'm sure you guys will figure something out. I don't know exactly what powers your sister possesses, so I cannot plan for how to defeat the Ice King. You guys can though! And I guarantee that me and the people of Houkkaville will help you 100%!" He said as the guards opened the doors to the outside. The winter wind rushed in and slapped all of them in the face with a chilly blast.

He walked off to help distribute weapons to the people, which were mostly pitchforks, pikes, shovels, pots and pans, and other household items.

Kristoff turned to face the entire group "Guys this is bad, this is really REALLY bad…. The king expects US to come up with a plan to defeat the Ice King, and while we still have no idea what we're up against, and even if we do manage to come up with some kind of plan, something is telling me that King Micheal's armed citizens aren't gonna be of much help to use in the battle…"

"I know, but what else can we do?" - Anna asked him

"We have to leave and leave these guys on their own. There's chivalry in helping people for the sake of trying and all that, but this is just plain dumb. Lets play it safe and book it home while we can. The storm is gone and the ship is right across the town, we can book it and be on the ship heading home before anyone else here even knew what was going on!" - Kristoff nervously said.

"Kristoff shush, keep your voice down!" - Elsa warned, keeping an eye out for any nearby citizens who may have overheard him.

"I know it looks bad Kristoff, but… Maybe it will work out?" - Anna said, but she didn't sound too confident in her statement

"How can this possibly work? Unless the Ice King just surrenders, I don't see how we can beat him at this point" - Kristoff

"Look, I know this seems bad, but we DO have to try, and maybe it will work out okay. We still have to visit this 'wizard' before we have to fight the Ice King, maybe he can help us" - Elsa

"At the very least let's see what the Wizard has to offer to help us. Once we meet him, then we can decide if its hopeless and decide to run or not" - Anna added.

Kristoff sighed in frustration. He was becoming increasingly paranoid that Anna or Elsa may get seriously hurt now that it became aware that King Micheal had no plan at all for defeating the Ice King, and he would much rather flee and keep them both safe rather than stick to his word and put their lives in serious danger….. However, Anna's proposal to at least wait to see if the wizard could help them seemed reasonable, so he relented.

"Fine, but if I don't like what I see i'll drag all of you back onto the ship myself" - Kristoff

"Deal" - Anna said, before leading the group towards King Micheal. He had hopped onto his horse right as Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf approached him.

"I've sent one of my guards to fetch horses for you all. Once everyone is ready we will set out to consult the wizard, and then the Ice King. Until then, feel free to pick out a weapon over there" he said, pointing towards a couple baskets, buckets, and chests lying on the ground. Elsa planned on relying on her ice powers to fight the Ice King, but she still followed Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf over to where the weapons were lying.

"OH, I get dibs on this! No wait, THAT, that one… No, wait, its way too heavy." Anna said, digging through the box of weapons as if it were a giant box of legos.

Kristoff picked through a different box, pulling out a spoon in one hand, and a pointy rock in another. He turned to Olaf who was completely inside the chest of weapons next to him digging around. "Find anything?" - Kristoff

"Yes! I found this helmet which fits on my head perfectly, and this very shiny key to something! I bet it unlocks treasure, or maybe the door to a bathroom, a bathroom with treasure in it!" Olaf said, mesmerized by the faded golden key he grasped in his hands. The helmet he was wearing was also absurdly too big for his head, but seeing as how Olaf had a history of losing his head, Kristoff figured it was for the best.

Anna gasped. "This… Is… PERFECT!" She yelled out, pulling out an old frying pan from the box using both of her hands. She beamed as she began to swing it around, simulating attacking an imaginary enemy.

Kristoff rolled his eyes. "Seriously, you're going to take on the Ice King with an old frying pan?"

Anna's smile faded, then she noticed that Kristoff still hadn't found a weapon of his own. "Well it may not be 'fearsome', but it beats your…. is that a rock?" - She asked, pointing at the pointy rock Kristoff was still holding with the frying pan that she was now holding.

Kristoff tossed the rock back in the box. "I think I'll just wing it" He said, standing up and brushing the snow off of his knees. "You're going to need someone to watch your back anyways" He joked at Anna, who was now practicing fighting moves with the frying pan.

She gave an empty laugh before continuing to practice. Elsa meanwhile had removed her gloves from her hands, but she could only just look at her hands instead of using her magic or trying out some attacks. She knew she would eventually have to use her powers, but she was just too nervous to try them out just yet.

A guard then approached the four of them. "Unfortunately, we only had two horses for the three of you." He said, motioning towards the two white horses behind him. "We also found a donkey for the…. snowman." He finished

Elsa made her way over to one of the horses, while Anna and Kristoff made their way over to the other. He helped her onto the horse and then climbed up onto the horse behind her.

"Whoa there, just what exactly do you think you're doing?" Elsa asked Kristoff, after he sat down behind Anna

"Uh, I'm getting on the horse with Anna?" Kristoff answered, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Anna though could see where this was going. "Elsa it's fine, I don't mind sharing a horse with him at all, he is my boyfriend after all…." - She started

"Well I _do_ mind, and i'm not letting it happen. You can ride horses together in Arendelle when i'm not around all you want when we get back, but as long as i'm around, i'm not letting you two sit so close together." - Elsa

"Well then what am I gonna use?" Kristoff asked in protest.

* * *

><p>Kristoff sat on the donkey behind Olaf as the mob of people gradually made their way over towards the mountains where the Ice King's castle sat. The donkey could barely keep up to speed with everyone else, even the people who were walking, and Kristoff considered getting off and walking the distance several times.<p>

The wizards hut was tucked into a corner of the mountain that could only be seen if you weren't right in front of it. The hut stood half on stilts, the other half buried into the mountain under snow. It was dark, frail, and uninviting, but King Micheal led Anna and Elsa up into the hut while Kristoff and olaf waited outside.

The inside of the hut looked just as uninviting as the outside. Artifacts and strange objects are all kind were clustered against the walls, and you could barely see anything inside.

"Wizard?" - King Micheal called out

"Back here!" a voice called back

King Micheal led Anna and Elsa through the hallway that was plastered with all kinds of oddities. A book there, a sack of weird smelling sand there, rubies here and there…. It looked as if the wizard was an undiagnosed hoarder of useless artifacts.

King Micheal led them into a large room that was far more organized than the rest of the house. In this room, everything was neatly organized on shelves all over the walls, and the space where the walls met the floor was actually clear. The wizard turned around when King Micheal entered with Anna and Elsa. He was tall, very old, and he had very grey skin, with a few spare strands of long white hair coming out of his head.

Anna and Elsa immediately recognized the old man. _He looked just like the guy in the book that removed the heart of the Ice King!_ Anna and Elsa exchanged nervous glances before joining King Micheal. They stood at the edge of a table that the wizard had placed a couple items on, and the wizard walked up to the other side.

"So, these are the ones who came to defeat the Ice King….." he muttered, creepily eyeing Elsa and Anna.

"That is correct, we came hoping that you could give us something so that we can once and for all defeat the Ice King" - King Micheal said.

The Wizard gazed at him and frowned slightly. "Unfortunately I couldn't assemble the ingredients for what I initially wanted to do for you, so instead I can only offer you this." He walked over and cautiously grabbed a jar of orange liquid. It looked like a big jar of orange juice, except it had an unnatural glow to it.

"This potion here gives objects the trait of extreme heat…. A drop or two of this on the edge of a sword will make anyone struck by it feel as if their wound is on fire." The wizard said, as he sat the jar on the table in front of King Micheal.

King Micheal didn't look thrilled with what the wizard offered. "Wizard, isn't this the ideal time to use the magnum crystal?" he asked.

The Wizard looked more upset than King Micheal. "I told you, the magnum crystal is ONLY to be used in extreme circumstances! It is not to be used every time you think you're certain that you'll defeat the Ice King!" He snapped

"I AM certain that we will defeat him this time! We have someone who can match the ice powers of the Ice King himself, the odds have never been more in out favor. We must use the magnum crystal to make sure victory is certain." - King Micheal pleaded

The wizard was having none of it though. "If the odds have never been more in your favor, then you don't need the crystal do you?"

King Micheal grew angrier. "Remember that it was YOU who created the Ice King, remember? The very least you can do is ensure that his defeat by letting us use the crystal now that victory is close"

The wizard now looked enraged at King Micheal. While Elsa was worried about a fight breaking out, something that King Micheal said had confused Anna.

"Wait, what do you mean the wizard created the ice king?" She asked King Micheal, who looked at Anna and then motioned her gaze back towards the wizard. Anna looked at the wizard and he relented.

"Long ago, a child was brought here to my cabin showing strange symptoms…. The child was the Ice king. He was brought here by villagers after he had struck himself in the chest with his own powers…. His hands had turned blue, he was struggling to stay awake… He was dying." - He started

Elsa's eyes widened. She realized that the king had somehow froze his own heart, and experienced the same symptoms Anna suffered when Elsa had accidentally froze her heart.

"Love will thaw a frozen heart" - she muttered.

The wizard nodded a single time. "That is true. Unfortunately I didn't know how to use that to save the child. Time was running out, and I was out of options, so I did the only thing I could think of….. So I removed his heart"

"It was frozen solid when you removed it, yes?" - King Micheal

The wizard nodded.

"Wait, if you, cut out his heart…. Then how did he survive?" - Anna asked

"In place of his heart, I inserted a magnum crystal, one of only two that I ever owned…. The crystal keeps him alive and performs all the functions of a regular heart, except for feelings. The Ice King feels no emotion whatsoever, not happiness, not fear, not kindness, not love…. He can only feel pain." - Wizard

"Geez…." Elsa muttered.

King Micheal chimed in. "Without the ability to feel, the Ice King had more control of his powers than ever before, and at the same time he was hateful of the wizard and the town since we removed his emotions and his heart…. Then came the prophecy…."

The wizard sat down on an old chair in the corner of the room. "After I had removed the child's heart, I stumbled across a prophecy in an old book that was written when Houkkaville was first founded. It said that one day, a heartless monster would come and plunge the town into an eternal darkness…. Naturally, I concluded that this heartless monster was the Ice King, since I had literally removed his heart and since he possessed the powers of ice and snow."

"He had inadvertently created the very person that the prophecy foretold would plunge the town in eternal darkness." - King Micheal said. "I had just become King when this happened, so I did everything I could to help the wizard defeat the Ice King while we could by attacking him before he could attack us. Unfortunately, we failed…."

"The Ice King fled up the mountain and barricaded himself inside his castle, plunging the town into an eternal darkness like the prophecy foretold. Ive devoted all of my efforts into helping King Micheal try to defeat him, but nothing worked. Now that you've come though, the Ice King may be defeated." - The wizard finished.

"Which is why we need the magnum crystal!" - King Micheal said, banging his first on the table.

"I already said no! The crystal is to be used when all hope is lost and when no other options are available! Ive given you what help I can, now be gone!" - The wizard said, angrily standing up and motioning for the group to get out of his house.

"Yeah, be gone!" another voice said. It was very high pitched and seemed to come out of nowhere, and the voice greatly startled Anna and Elsa.

"What was that?" Elsa asked

The Wizard didnt even hear the question. "Morph! I told you to keep quiet when we have guests!" He randomly yelled out.

A purple blob of a cloud then stuck his eyes outside a cup he was hiding in, eyes gazing at Anna, Elsa, and King Micheal.

"You heard the wizard, be gone!" It said, before teleporting to a shoe nearby. "Yeah, leave at once!" It said in a lower but still high pitched voice. Then it teleported right onto the table in the room. "Leave or forever suffer!" It cried out, before being smacked with an old cane by the Wizard.

"Morph you blithering fool, stop it!" The wizard cried out, beating the cloud-thing with his cane several times. The thing, whatever it was, was nothing more than a purplish cloud with a pair of eyes. It was so small that it could fit in the palm of anyones hand, and despite its transparent appearance, it was still solid, meaning you could hit it with a cane without the cane passing right through it.

Morph whined and then flew back into the cup he was hiding in after the Wizard got him with the cane three times.

"I apologize for that. That was morph, he is my brainless assistant who's only quality is that he can teleport short distances." - The wizard said in a softer voice, seeing that Elsa and Anna were pretty freaked out by the entire ordeal.

"I'm not brainless!" - Morph cried out from the cup

"You literally don't have a brain, and all you do is cause me problems! Half the time I cant even find you in here" The wizard snapped back. "Now shush and don't make another sound!" He finished, before turning back to King Micheal, Anna, and Elsa. The sisters were pretty freaked out by the whole episode.

"I've given you valuable assistance, and I refuse to let you use the magnum crystal. Take the potion, soak the tips of weapons in it, and leave." The wizard said softly, before making his way to the door. "Oh by the way, do NOT get that on your hands…. It burns like hell if it gets on your skin" He added before disappearing deeper into the hut.

King Micheal sighed, picked up the jar, and led Anna and Elsa out of the hut.

"Elsa are you sure you can do this?" Anna whispered to her once King Micheal was out of earshot.

"No." She replied immediately.

"Elsa if what they are saying is true, then the Ice King both has complete control of his powers AND feels no fear! I don't want you to get hurt fighting this guy. You don't have to fight him!" Anna said, grabbing Elsa's arm to reassure how concerned she was for her sister.

Elsa though seemed calm. "If what they are saying is true, then it also means that the Ice King is a menace who truly needs to be stopped." She replied calmly, but Anna was still worried.

"Have you even practiced with your powers since you got here?" - Anna asked, bewildered at how calm Elsa was.

Elsa paused before admitting the truth. "No…. In fact this entire time i've been here i've only been practicing to keep control over my emotions so that when I do fight the ice king, i'll have a clear mind and good control over my powers."

She walked out the front door of the wizards hut, Anna still concerned for her sister. Elsa wasn't acting like herself at all. The Elsa that she knew was cautious, rational, and open to persuasion, but ever since they got here ,she has instead been acting determined and even reckless….. There was no stopping Elsa though, and Anna remembered her promise to support Elsa no matter what.

_The Ice king is gonna get his butt whipped like never before if he hurts my sister!_ Anna thought to herself. If she couldn't convince Elsa to not fight the Ice King, she could at least channel her fear into determination to help her sister fight the Ice King herself. She did after all, come to watch her sisters back.

While Anna had gotten a hold on her emotions, Elsa was secretly a mess. _He has no heart, he feels no fear, he has complete control over his powers, how am I gonna beat him?…. I haven't practiced with my powers a single time since we got here! _The ice in her veins again pooled in her fingertips, and so she slipped on her gloves. She was determined to fight the Ice King no matter what though. The more she learned about the Ice King, the more intrigued she became in learning about him, and the more determined she came to stop him.

_Conceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show_

* * *

><p>"This is brilliant, you've really outdone yourself this time my king!"<p>

The Ice King and his minion smiled at his creation from above. "Yes, it will definitely thwart whatever plans King Micheal and his army of fools have in store for us today… I only hope that I don't accidentally kill too many of them this time…."


	10. Chapter 10: Unwelcome Surprises

While King Micheal and his guards began to dip the tips of weapons of the citizens into the jar of orange liquid, Elsa and Anna walked back to their horses, where Kristoff was waiting for them with good news.

"Hey Elsa, remember how during breakfast you said you would send a guard to smuggle us some food from the ship? Well he showed up while you were in there with some snacks!" He said quietly, holding up a brown bag with food in it.

Elsa took out an apple, Anna grabbed a small pie, and Kristoff grabbed a carrot. Olaf meanwhile was nibbling on a stick.

"So, what did the wizard do for us?" - Olaf

"He gave some kind of orange jar of stuff to King Micheal. The wizard said something about soaking the weapons in it and it would cause them to burn anything they touch, I think. I wasn't paying attention that much" - Anna

"Okay, what else?" - Kristoff

"…..That was it….." - Elsa

"Oh! We almost forgot, It turns out that the wizard is the guy who removed the Ice King's heart in the first place!" - Anna

"Oh yeah. Yeah, the wizard looks just like the guy in the book who took out the Ice King's heart." - Elsa said, eager to change the subject

"Good to know….. So you still want to fight the Ice King?" - Kristoff asked Elsa

_Hell no I don't want to fight him!_

"Yes, he has to be stopped" Was what she said instead. She couldn't just back out now, she was in way too deep.

"Are you sure? You seem kinda nervous…" - Olaf said, still nibbling on a stick as if it were now a cigar

"I'm a tad nervous, yes…. But who wouldn't be in this situation? I'm still determined, and nothing is going to change my mind" - Elsa said, trying to conceal her true feelings.

King Micheal approached them. "The tips of every sharp weapon we have has been laced with the orange potion that the wizard gave us, are you guys ready for the fight?" He asked them.

Everyone glanced at Elsa, who gave a slight nod.

"Okay, here's what you need to know." He motioned for a guard to come over, who carried with him a rolled up piece of parchment. King Micheal took it, and layer it out flat on an exposed rock in the snow. It was a map that only a single large square and two arrows on it. He pointed to one of the arrows "This is the entrance into the Ice King's castle… He will be somewhere inside, waiting for us when we enter."

"Wait, he knows when we are going to attack?" - Kristoff asked incredulously

He nodded "The locks on the doors keeping him inside are heavy and pretty noisy to remove. Whenever we attack, he immediately knows that we are attacking. Also, we always try to attack him the day before the Winter Solstice, so he is expecting us at this very moment." - King Micheal.

Elsa started breathing more rapidly. _Everything will be okay, everything will be okay!_

"What's the other arrow on the map?" - Anna asked, eyeing the other arrow that was on the opposite side of the square where the entrance was.

"Thats the door to the rest of the castle, where the Ice King actually lives. We've never made it in there." - King Micheal

"You mean every time you've attacked, you've never made it past the front door?" - Kristoff asked, even more baffled than he had been just moments earlier

The teenage king nodded again "The large room that we enter into is the battle room, where the Ice King fights any intruders. The fight begins as soon as we enter, and since we've never defeated the Ice King, we've never been past the second door….. The second door is only something you should pursue if you cant make it out the front door for any reason." - King Micheal

Elsa's breathing quickened. _Conceal it, don't feel it, don't let is show_

"So then the plan is to open the front door, charge in, and then fight the Ice King, who is certainly expecting us?" - Kristoff

"Sounds like a good plan! lets do it!" - Olaf cheered, making his way towards the donkey he rode up the mountain on.

King Micheal rolled up the map. "Our strength isn't in tactics or cunning, its in numbers. Its always been the one thing that the Ice King never had….. With you on our side this time, we cant lose"

He handed the map back to the guard who brought it to him. "Send some guards ahead to unlock the door, by the time it is opened, we will be there and we will charge in!" King Micheal ordered. The guard nodded and ran off. King Micheal looked back at Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and Kristoff. "He will be defeated, i'm sure of it" he said with a reassuring smile.

Elsa wasn't so convinced. Neither was anyone else.

But they had no choice, the time had come.

* * *

><p>The doors into the Ice King's castle were massive. They rivaled that of the size of the Royal ship that Elsa and Anna had come to Houkkaville on, and were several feet thick, carved out of solid ice too. The doors were decorated with a portrait of a giant mask, the one that Anna and Elsa had seen the Ice King wearing in the book they found in King Micheal's room. The eyes were blank, and from the eyes there were a bunch of zig-zagged lines moving away from the eyes in a symmetrical pattern. The doors themselves were braced shut on the outside by about a hundred planks of solid wood, each with one end anchored into the ground and the other holding the door shut. The Guards had already removed about 34ths of them by the time the army arrived.

Elsa was shaking in fear now. It was pretty nerve racking to go up against a foe who was undefeated, had all of her powers, maybe even more, and was literally heartless… But the giant doors to his castle and all the preparations needed just to keep him in there made him seem much more than just some outlaw…. It made him seem like he was a literal _monster_ the size of a dragon.

_C-c-conceal it….. D-Dont feel…_

She couldn't even finish the thought. Her mind was all over the place and she could barely concentrate…. The only thing that was keeping her together was that she was managing to keep all of it in. No one else noticed that she was a nervous wreck. To everyone around her, Elsa looked as strong and determined as ever contrary to what she was truly feeling, and her apparent confidence inspired them to be confident too.

King Micheal addressed the group one last time. "The citizens will charge into the battle room first, which is large and open with lots of space for fighting. The only think that will be in the room will be whatever defenses that the Ice King has decided to use. Once they all charge in and buy you some space, you guys can go in and do whatever you gotta do to defeat him."

He paused, looking all of them in the eye. Elsa, then Anna, then Kristoff, even Olaf….

"You guys ready?" He asked them.

Elsa didn't respond this time. She couldn't say or do anything, she was now paralyzed with fear.

"We're ready" - Anna finally said, noticing that Elsa hadn't responded.

King Micheal nodded. "Good to hear. Guards! Open the gates!" - He bellowed behind him, and the giant doors creaked open. The doors opened up just enough for the people to pour inside. The armed citizens charged in, all of them yelling battle cries of all sorts, hellbent on fighting whatever evil lied inside. After a few seconds though, the battle cries died down, and were instead replaced with casual and confused murmuring, much to the surprise of King Micheal.

"King Micheal, there's something you need to see!" One of the guards yelled, motioning for him to come over. King Micheal jogged over, with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and finally Elsa following behind him.

The mob of people inched back outside the doors so that King Micheal could make his way through to see inside the castle. Anna and Elsa also made their way through the crowd to see for themselves, wondering what was going on.

"Oh no…. He didn't…." King Micheal whispered in disbelief, gazing inside the doors into the castle.

Anna and Elsa made their way through the mob of people until they were both standing next to him on either side. They too gasped in disbelief at what they saw….

Inside the doors in the Ice Kings castle, sunlight from the outside poured in, revealing what lied inside the the castle. Inside, the Ice King had constructed gigantic walls of ice around the entrance that led to a much smaller and narrower entrance, with no other way around it. Within this other entrance were more walls made of ice that stretched all the way up to a lower ceiling, each of which zig-zagged all over the place out of view.

_It was a maze! ….The Ice King had constructed an actual friggin maze made out of ice inside the entrance/battle room!_

* * *

><p>"Now what do we do?" - Anna finally asked after all of them were done gawking at what laid ahead of them. There was no way to go around the entrance to the maze, and it looked like they were going to have to go through it…<p>

King Micheal turned to Elsa. "Do you think you could, maybe, blast through the walls with your own powers?" He asked. The request startled Elsa, and she looked down at her hands wondering if she was capable of doing something so powerful. She had created with ice and defended herself with ice before, sure, but she never had to blast through solid walls with it….

She didn't have a choice anymore though. She removed her gloves, and her breathing calmed as she walked forward and stood at the entrance to the maze. Anna and King Micheal pushed back the crowd of people behind her to give her some space.

She breathed, and set her feet, concentrating on controlling the ice that had pooled through her fingertips. She didn't need to control it though, she only needed to _release_ it.

"HIYAAAAAA" Elsa yelled with a ferocious scream, and a powerful blast of ice exploded out of her hands and into one of the walls of the maze! She had given the blast everything she had, summoning every ounce of nervous strength within her and muscling it into the blast. The force of the blast threw her backwards by several feet, where Anna and King Micheal caught her before she fell. They all looked up at the wall Elsa tried to bust through…. But it still stood.

The blast, though undoubtably powerful, failed to burst through or even crack any of the walls of the maze constructed by the Ice King. Instead, a coat of fresh blue ice was plastered all over the walls that Elsa had tried to annihilate….. She had given it her all, but in the end she didn't even close to succeeding.

King Micheal, thinking fast, turned to the crowd of citizens behind him, who were awed at Elsa's power, but also horrified that it had no effect on the Ice King's creation. "My people, it appears that we have no choice but to explore the maze ourselves….. Everyone group up into 5 or 6 people each and make your way into the maze, make sure to go down a path that another group hasn't gone down before if possible. If you come across the Ice King, yell out that you've found him and we will all converge on your location. Remember, we still have strength in numbers!"

The citizens grouped up and slowly made their way into the maze, King Micheal pulled out a dated sword and stayed behind with Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf. After all the citizens and guards entered the maze, King Micheal turned to Elsa and Anna.

"Looks like its our turn now" He said with a slight chuckle, before inching his way into the maze. Olaf followed behind King Micheal, and Anna and Elsa followed him, with Kristoff watching out behind them. As they made their way deeper into the maze, the light from the entrance began to dim. Before long things were pitch black, and the group had to light a torch.

Elsa could hear her heartbeat in her ears, and so could everyone else. All of them keeping their eyes and ears peeled for any sign of the Ice King. Elsa glanced up towards the ceiling, which was made of ice just as solid as the walls. She could only see her own reflection on the ice, eyes wide in fear along with everyone else's, wondering what they had really gotten themselves into.

_Everything will be okay, everything will be okay, please, please let everything be okay._

* * *

><p>The Ice King stood perfectly still, watching the peasants enter the maze underneath him. One of the many tricks he taught himself over his years in solitude was how to construct ice that operated the same as a one way mirror. Ice that could be seen in through one side but not the other..… He stood on the ceiling over the maze and watched as King Micheal's armed citizens cautiously and nervously entered his creation, not knowing or seeing that the Ice King himself was watching all directly overhead. He could see them, but they couldn't see him. The Ice King stood there thinking about how this was going to be such a one-sided battle, King Micheal's strength in numbers meant nothing now that they were spread out everywhere with no way to readily assist one another…..<p>

But then something caught his eye. Or rather, some_one_.

King Micheal, the coward as always, was the last one to enter the castle, like he had done so in many battles before. But this time instead of being surrounded by his usual band of inept guards, he was being escorted by a far different group of people…. A snowman wearing an oversized helmet, some burly mountain man carrying a sack of something, and two beautiful young women, one of which was carrying a frying pan…. But it was the other woman he found very interesting.

_Well, well, well…. Look at THIS pretty face._ He thought to himself, getting down onto one of his knees and eyeing Elsa through the ice ceiling as she entered the maze….. Even through the eyeholes of the mask he was wearing, he could easily see that she was beyond nervous, even petrified. Like everyone else in the group with her, they all had no idea what lay ahead of them, or even just above them. But something about her was, _different_….. She was unique…. Special….. Just staring at her was entrancing…. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but for some reason he became fascinated by her, something that had never happened to him before over anything. She stared up at the ceiling searching for something, and he stared right back into her eyes without her even knowing.

_'I'll make sure not to hurt you precious… But i'm afraid that I cannot say the same for everyone else in my maze'_ He thought to himself. He then casually walked over to another side of the maze away from Elsa and her group, and with a flick of his wrist, a hole opened up in the ceiling of the maze.

The Ice King then jumped down into the hole, and began making quick work of King Micheal's armed citizens.


	11. Chapter 11: Anarchy

A single blast echoed through the halls of the maze, causing everyone to freeze in their tracks.

"What was that?" - Kristoff asked immediately, with Anna and Elsa hiding behind him.

"That, was the Ice King" - King Micheal whispered.

Another, louder blast echoed through the halls of the maze. This one sounded much closer than the previous one. Then indistinguishable cries and screams of the armed citizens began to ring through the halls of the maze, interrupted only by loud blasts that came from the Ice King.

"Come on, we have to help them!" King Micheal said, awkwardly maneuvering past Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff towards the sounds of the screaming. The halls were so narrow that two people couldn't even walk through them shoulder to shoulder. It was a claustrophobics nightmare, and the darkness deep within the maze probably didn't help either.

Everyone else followed King Micheal towards the sounds of the screams, and soon enough they were in the thick of it. Citizens were running around in every direction screaming their heads off, claiming that the Ice King was here or there. Many of them were bloodied, some had small icicles sticking out of their arms, legs, and torsos. Others were trying to drag bodies of fallen citizens out of the maze, but nobody remembered where the exit was or how to get to it.

"Jesus this isn't a battle, this is just chaos!" Kristoff yelled out. Anna and Elsa were sticking close together trying not to be separated as panicking citizens desperately sprinted past them looking for the exit. One of them knocked the torch right out of King Micheal's hand, and it went out.

The darkness, the screams, and the loud bangs finally caused Elsa to lose her nerve. She plastered herself against the wall and tried to make herself as flat as possible to tune out the carnage around her, but as she did, a mob of citizens began pouring through the hallway she was in, separating her from the group

"Anna!" She yelled out, trying to find her sister in the pitch black chaos of the maze. The only light that was available through came from the torches of other panicking citizens sprinting by. Elsa could only catch fleeting glimpses of her surroundings, and she couldn't see Anna anywhere.

"ANNA!…. KRISTOFF!…. ANYBODY!" - She cried out, desperate for anyone to answer her, but all she could hear were the shouts from the faceless citizens darting through the maze. One citizen clipped her, another knocked her against the wall. She was about to be trampled to death before a hard tug on her hair brought her into an open corner of the maze.

"OW, Hey! Stop that!" She yelled out, shoving against whoever had grabbed her by her hair. Whoever it was, they were pulling her hair HARD, to the point that she could feel some of the hairs being pulled out of her head

"Sorry! Sorry, its me, Micheal!" - King Micheal said, holding a torch in the hand that used to be where his sword was. "I heard your voice and I had to get you out of there."

"Where's Anna? Where's Kristoff?" She asked while trying to spot them in the chaos around the corner.

"I thought they were with you!" King Micheal said.

"We got separated when Kristoff dropped our torch, I don't know where any of them are!" - Elsa

"We won't be able to find them in this mess… Here, take the torch and see if you can find them, I'll try to direct people out of the maze. If I find them I'll come look for you." - King Micheal said, handing Elsa the torch. She took it without fully understanding what he was saying, and he took off before she knew it.

Elsa turned around deeper into the maze as the panicked screams of people grew ever present.

_Anna i'm sorry, if you're okay I want you to know that I'm so, so sorry!_

She slowly made her way deeper into the darkness of the maze, all alone, looking for her sister.

* * *

><p>The Ice King, who was winded at dashing all over the maze and flinging icicles at people, once again stood on top of the maze and watched the chaos unfold beneath him. A few surprises here, a few thrown icicles there, and the entire army of citizens were thrown into an uncontrollable panic.<p>

_I love the sound of chaos in the morning _He thought to himself with a slight grin. His grin grew even wider across his face when an idea sprang into his head. _Lets make it a little more chaotic shall we?_

He then stood up straight, stomped down on one foot, and with both of his arms he began to twist into elaborate positions with contorted his hands. A thunderous noise rumbled through his feet from the maze below him, as the walls of the entire maze began to shift.

* * *

><p>Anna And Kristoff were braced against a wall on one side of the maze, away from the main carnage in the middle of the maze.<p>

"Elsa!" Anna called out, for the 50th time. _How could I lose my own sister? I came all this way to protect her and I blew it!_

She and Kristoff casually made their way through the maze, making sure to not be trampled by panicked citizens, when suddenly they both fell to their knees as a gigantic rumbling emerged from everywhere around them. It felt like an earthquake, and Anna and Kristoff could only watch as the hallway behind them, one that they had just walked through, suddenly was split into as an entire wall of ice slowly divided the passage into two.

_Holy crap, the entire maze was changing all around them!_

Where walls emerged out of nowhere to cut off the paths ahead and behind them, other walls opened up entirely revealing entirely new pathways to go through. The Ice King was changing the complete layout of his maze, opening and closing off pathways by whim. It was now no use trying to map out the maze, if they were going to get out, it was going to be purely by luck.

_Elsa please be okay!_ Anna thought to herself. Gripping her frying pan with both hands out of paralyzing fear and seething anger for losing her sister in the first place.

* * *

><p>The Ice King chuckled as he watched the panic even more below him. He had closed off the entrance to the outside completely so that those who hadn't already gotten out were now trapped inside with no way out.<p>

_Now then, where did that pretty young lady go?_

The Ice King than began to casually walk over the ceiling of the maze, looking for Elsa. He paused only to open up a hole in the ceiling, rain down some icicles on some people below him, and then close it back up before they even knew where it came from. He saw King Micheal trying to bring order to his people, but he was failing miserably.

_That should keep him preoccupied... _

He spotted Elsa very deep into the maze, she was stroking the wall with one hand as if she was trying to learn a secret from it.

_Hopefully I don't terrify her too bad…_ He then flicked his wrist again, opened up a hole in the roof, and jumped in.

Elsa her a thud behind her, and she whipped around hoping that by some miracle it was Anna or Kristoff….

To her horror, it was the absolute LAST person she wanted to run into.

The Ice King slowly stood up, peering through his mask directly at Elsa. The mask was just like the one that was carved into the gigantic doors on the entrance into the castle. It was a white mask with black lines zig-zagging out from the eye-holes towards all corners of the mask. The black shirt and black pants had similar patterns, making the Ice King appear like a shadow with streaks of lightning made of ice flowing around his body. The only parts of him that were exposed were his hands, and his snow-white hair, which messily sat on top of his head. She stared into his cold, calculating blue eyes, and he stared right back into hers, which were wide with fear and horror.

"I must say, it's nice to finally meet you" He casually whispered with a rough voice.

Elsa shrieked, and let out a powerful burst of ice from her hands right at the Ice King, who never even saw it coming. The burst was just as powerful as the one she unleashed when she tried to break through the maze, and it hit the Ice King before he even knew it was coming.

The Ice King was flung back halfway down the passage against a wall with a tremendous thud. The back of his head smacked so hard against the wall that his mask almost popped out of its strap.

_What in the HELL was that?_ He thought to himself, as Elsa ran around a corner deeper into the maze._ This girl has ice powers?! _

The Ice King grunted as he got up, his back and the back of his head still sore from begin thrown so hard against the wall. He looked up, opened up a hole in the ceiling, and leapt through it on a blast of ice from his feet. He closed the hole behind him and then resumed his search for Elsa.

_'You're far more fascinating than I expected…. Though something tells me you're not one of those dastardly creations of the wizard'_ He thought to himself, searching for Elsa. He finally found her in a hallway, looking behind her expecting the Ice King to have followed her.

_Alright, lets try something else..._

He opened up another hole, and jumped down into it to once again confront Elsa.

* * *

><p>Elsa's heart was beating so hard it was about to leap out of her chest, but she was a little more confident in herself after she had blasted the Ice King. She tried to control her breathing and recollect herself as she waited, it didn't look like the Ice king had followed her.<p>

She heard a thud from behind her, and she whipped around to see the Ice King once again standing up from off the ground. She only caught a glimpse of the hole in the ceiling close as the Ice King got on his feet.

_So thats how he's getting around!_ She thought to herself, gazing from the ceiling back into the dead eyes of the Ice King who stood before her.

"Well I certainly wasn't expecting THAT" He muttered, this time in his actual voice instead of some creepy whisper.

_Time for a little help. _

She flung her hand not holding the torch downwards and a blast of magic leapt from her fingers into the ground. The ground swelled, and from it, a powerful snow creature that she had once summoned before in defense began to take shape.

'Marshmallow' as Olaf had named it, wasn't as big as the previous one she made was, but it still looked as formidable as it could have in the narrow halls of the maze. If anything could buy her time to get out of the maze though, this would be it.

Marshmallow took one look at the Ice King and let out a ferocious roar, with spikes of ice emerging from its back and fingers just like last time. Elsa smiled, turns out she had decent control over her powers after all.

The Ice King though, seemed more amused by the beast Elsa summoned then fearful of it.

"So, you've figured out how to summon minions? Thats cute, but allow me to introduce some minions of my own!" - He yelled out, throwing both of his hands towards either wall beside him.

The walls tingled, and then started to swell similar to the floor where Elsa had summoned Marshmallow. However, it wasn't just one minion that the Ice King had summoned…. Hundreds of tiny bubbles were soon emerging from the walls and began to burst open one by one, and from them, the Ice King's eight legged minions emerged.

_Holy crap,_ _He had summoned ice spiders!_

The spiders than began to overrun Marshmallow, who had succeeded in stomping and crushing dozens of them to death before he became covered with them. The ice spiders than began to pop one by one, encasing Marshmallow in tiny patches of ice as each one popped. After all the spiders on him had gone off, Marshmallow had become completely entombed in ice... That is, until the Ice King blew it to smithereens with one powerful blast.

"Seize her!" The Ice King bellowed, and the spiders began to sprint for Queen Elsa.

She turned around and ran for her life. 'Not_ spiders! Not spiders! Dammit why did it HAVE TO BE SPIDERS!?'_ she thought to herself as she sprinted back through the hallway she and just fled through. She absolutely HATED spiders, just as much as Anna, and all she could do was throw blasts of ice behind her blindly as she sprinted away from them. With each blast that hit the wall, at least a dozen spiders would burst into nothingness, but dozens more still pursued her around every corner. She ran as fast as she could, dashing through any hallway she could find.

Then the walls began to shift again, the Ice King once again rearranging the layout of his maze. She could only helplessly watch as walls of ice cut off her pathway and opened up new paths all around her. She was completely disorientated as to which way was which, and she didn't have the faintest idea where the entrance was. She couldn't even hear the screams of the panicking citizens, as the rumble of the ice walls rearranging into place consumed any other sound.

After the walls stopped moving, she began dashing through passages, hoping to find anything. The entrance, her sister, Micheal, anything would do at this point.

She turned one corner and looked back, with no sign of the spiders or the Ice King behind her, though the Ice King was probably on the ceiling overhead. She looked back forward and came to a screeching stop as she saw the door that was at the end of the passage way. It was a small ice door with no markings on it, with only a single doorknob and keyhole in it.

'_This must be the door into the rest of the castle'_ She thought to herself, walking up to the door and stroking it. She heard a thud behind her, and turned around to face the Ice King once again.

The Ice King stood up, this time his hands brimming with the blue aurora of his ice powers at the tips of his fingers. He had trapped Elsa in the passage, with the only exit being the door behind her.

She whipped around and tried to open the door, but it was locked, even letting out a quick blast through the lock didn't do anything.

"Going somewhere?" The Ice King casually asked. Elsa whipped around and braced against the door.

"Don't make me hurt you again!" - Elsa cried out, hoping to maybe intimidate the Ice King

He let out a laugh. "I'm not the kind of person who gets surprised twice in one day…"

'_We'll see about that'_ she thought to herself, and she let out a powerful blast of ice at the Ice King. This time though he saw it coming, and he punched his way through the blast of ice and it evaporated around him into nothingness.

Elsa was caught off guard, and let off another blast, hoping that this one would knock him back. Then she let out another, then another, then another.

The Ice King forced his way through each one with successive punches, gradually making ground on Elsa, who was still pinned between the Ice King and the locked door. Finally, she let out a stream of ice, much like the one she used a long time ago to push a guard almost completely out of her own ice castle.

Her stream of ice was met by the Ice King's own stream, as he countered Elsa's stream of ice with one of his own. The two were now locked in battle, just like the picture in the book foretold, each trying to produce a stream of ice to overpower the other. Elsa gritted her teeth and focused as hard as she could into her attack, and the Ice King did the same. Each of their streams met directly in the middle, with no one making any advance.

Then, Elsa's stream began to wane. The Ice King slowly made his way closer to Elsa as his stream of ice began to overpower Elsa's. Elsa dropped the torch and used her other hand to try to throw him back, but the Ice King countered by using both of his hands as well.

The Ice King slowly made his way closer and closer to Elsa, step by step, as the strength of his magic began to overpower hers. Soon he was within 20 feet of her…. Then 15….. Then 10…. In no time at all, The Ice King and Elsa were almost face to face, hand to hand as each of them fiercely through a stream of ice against each other.

Then their hands touched, and Elsa felt a tremendously painful sting shoot up in her arms. The ice in her veins, which had flowed towards her hands like a freight train the whole time, suddenly felt as if it had reversed course and painfully shot backwards into her elbows. She was thrown hard against the door behind her and fell to the ground and the Ice King was thrown almost halfway down the hallway.

Elsa's vision blurred, and her head was ringing. She hit her head pretty hard on both the door and the floor when she fell, she tried to see what had happened to the Ice King, but when she went to rub her eyes, something felt very, very wrong.

Elsa looked down at her hands and was horrified at what she saw. After touching hands with the Ice King during their battle when both of them were trying to blast each other with ice, Elsa's forearms had become completely incased with ice all the way from her fingertips to her elbows! She couldn't move any part of her hands, fingers, or wrists, and she couldn't feel anything below her elbows either. She watched in horror as the Ice King got back onto his feet, both of his hands were free of any ice.

He was breathing heavily and agrily, not pleased to being thrown on his back twice in the same couple of minutes… After he collected himself, he looked at Elsa, and made his way towards her.

She panicked, backing up against the door and trying to hit her arms against it hoping to break the ice around her hands. Nothing happened though, and as the Ice King drew closer, all she could do was raise her frozen arms over her head and wait for the final blow.

"You fight hard, i'll give you that, but sadly you're simply no match for—" He started

BOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG

A huge thud rang out threw the air, and the Ice King hit the ground face-first with a tremendous thud.

Behind him….. Stood Anna, who had quietly snuck up behind the Ice King and then, using every ounce of strength she had in her arms, swung the frying pan as hard as she could upside the Ice King's skull, knocking him out and sending him to the floor unconscious.


	12. Chapter 12: Imprisonment

Anna stood perfectly still as she looked at the Ice King in a crumpled heap at her feet, and Elsa sat still with her mouth agape at how Anna had knocked the crap out of him with a frying pan.

Anna then proceeded on having a victory dance.

"YEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Did you see that!? WOOOO! HAHAHAHA, he didn't even see it coming! I snuck up behind him all stealthy and smooth and then, WHAM, right upside the head! Rapunzel was right, these things are amazing!" Anna beamed, looking at her frying pan as if it was a mighty sword she had just pulled out of a rock. Elsa was so happy that Anna had saved her that she couldn't even think straight.

Anna took one look at Elsa and saw her arms, encased in ice.

"Oh no, Elsa! What happened, what did he do?" - She dropped the frying pan and knelt down next to Elsa. Elsa then proceeded on giving Anna a bear hug, she had never been so glad to see her before.

"You're okay! You're okay, thank goodness you're okay, I was so worried!" Elsa said, sobbing from happiness. Where Elsa was eternally thankful though, Anna was worried out of her mind.

"Elsa, your hands! Your arms! What happened? How'd it happen, did HE do this to you?" She fired off question after question, fearing that she may have come too late to save Elsa after all.

"I'm okay Anna, i'm okay, everything is okay." - Elsa said, smiling through her tears of joy and relief

"Elsa you're hands though! They're completely frozen! Here, let me help you up" - Anna said, squeezing in between the wall and Elsa to help her up. When she squeezed her way in though, the wall suddenly gave way, falling outwards from where Anna had leaned against it.

The wall fell down and shattered into a million shards of ice, but not before it took down another chunk of wall with it…. Then another, then another. Soon, the gigantic walls of ice were falling all over the place like dominoes, and parts of the ceiling even began to cave in! Within a few minutes, all of the walls and the ceiling on top of it had crashed and shattered into billions of pieces all over the place.

The citizens, terrified at being stuck inside the castle, made a stampede towards the exit of the castle as if their lives depended on it. Kristoff and Olaf meanwhile had spotted the two sisters consoling each other on the other side of the room, and they dashed towards them.

"Anna! Don't sneak off like that!" - Kristoff said, sliding in next to Elsa on his knees to help her up. "Holy, what happened to your arms? Is that the Ice King!?"

"Yep! I knocked him out unconscious with my frying pan! Not so useless now is it mister smartypants?…." She said with a grin, eagerly shoving Kristoff's face in her accomplishment. She hadn't felt this good since that time she broke Prince Hans's face off the side of a boat, she even felt better since her hand didn't hurt like hell this time around.

Olaf then met up with the group. "Hi guys! What I miss? Also, who's that guy?" He asked, eyeing the unconscious Ice King.

"It doesn't matter, we won, we can get up and—" Elsa started as she got up to her feet. Something caught her eye though. Across the room, the last of the citizens and King Micheal had made their way out of the palace and were closing the doors to the castle behind them.

"Hey, HEY, WAIT! WE GOT HIM, HE'S OVER HERE!" Elsa called out, Anna and Kristoff looked at what Elsa saw, and to their horror watched as the gigantic ice doors slowly began to close. Kristoff leapt to his feet and dashed across the room at a record pace, but he couldn't get to the doors in time. They closed with a crunch and the chatter from the outside could no longer be heard, replaced by the thuds of the planks of wood holding the doors closed were put back into place.

Kristoff banged on the doors. "HEY! WE'RE STILL IN HERE! WE GOT THE ICE KING, OPEN UP THE DOORS!" - He yelled out

Anna, then showed up next to him to bang on the doors as well.

"HEY YOU IDIOTS WE'RE STILL— Whoa…. Geez I'm out of breath…. I need to do some cardio or something." She panted, taking deep breaths after exhausting herself at running so hard. Kristoff and Anna then banged on the doors as hard as they could for several more minutes, yelling to the people outside to open up the doors, but nothing happened….

Anna and Kristoff eventually gave up, exchanged nervous glances, and then looked back at Elsa and Olaf, who were at their feet watching as their ticket out of this mess had been sealed shut.

They were now sealed inside the Ice King's castle with the Ice King.

Kristoff looked back at Anna. "Now what?" He asked.

Anna then turned towards the door. "YOU HAVE TO THE COUNT OF THREE TO OPEN UP THIS DOOR BEFORE I BEAT YOU ALL UPSIDE YOUR HEADs WITH MY FRYING PAN!" Anna yelled at the door.

"Anna dont, its no use…" - Kristoff

"ONE…." - Anna

"Anna…." - Kristoff

"TWO…" - Anna.

Nothing happened.

"TWO AND A HALF…" - Anna yelled

Still nothing.

Anna rested her head upside the doors with a defeated and slight thud. It was no use, those dunderheads from Houkkaville had just locked them into a prison with the Ice King.

Kristoff took Anna's hand in his own. "Come on" he said, and he gently tugged her arm and led her towards Elsa, Olaf, and the unconscious Ice King.

As Anna trudged her way back towards her sister, Olaf, and the Ice King, she began to freak out a little. Then a lot. _We're trapped in here with the Ice King! What are we gonna do?! I knocked him out with the frying pan sure, but what if he wakes up? Elsa's hands are also frozen solid on top of it!_

The two finally made their way back to where Elsa and Olaf were standing and where the Ice King was lying. Everyone's good mood soured at the realization that they were now trapped in the Ice King's castle with the Ice King himself

Kristoff gave a deep sigh, glanced around the giant room, and then looked at Elsa. "Well now what do we do? We're trapped in a gigantic ice prison with a homicidal maniac with ice powers!" He sat down on the floor after moving some shattered ice out of his way. Anna still stayed standing, looking at Elsa for answers.

She noticed the door behind her.

"What about that door? You think its open?" - She asked

Elsa shook her head. "I tried going through it when I was cornered by the Ice King, its locked tight. Impossible to get through"

Olaf giggled. "No locked door is impossible to get through!" He said, as he waddled his way towards the door.

Elsa sighed. "Olaf I blasted the keyhole with ice and it didn't bust. There's no getting through."

Olaf chuckled again. "Oh you're so funny. Lock picking is a form of art if you ask me, and only professionals such as myself can unlock its secrets!" He then pressed his head against the door, as if he were listening to it.

"Professional?…." - Kristoff

"SHHHHHH!…." Olaf silenced Kristoff before pressing his head back on the door. "Uh-huh…" He said after a while, before shifting his head to another position "I see, interesting…." He then moved his head towards another part of the door. "Okay, i'm getting something…"

"What are you—" Kristoff started before being elbowed in the ribs by Anna.

"Yep thats what I figured. You see what we have here is your typical Smith and Easton type lock here, pretty high quality but nothing I haven't dealt with before…." he then pulled out his nose and shoved it into the keyhole before twisting it around everywhere. "Alright let's see what we got here…. Should be about 32 degrees left…. Then 56 degrees up….. Rotate 2 and a half times, a click down then rotate it counterclockwise 10 degrees, thats the part most people forget, then a gentle shove and…."

The lock clicked and Olaf removed his nose from the keyhole. He then turned the doorknob to the door and the door creaked open.

"See, told you it would work!" Olaf beamed, putting his nose back on his head while staring back at everyone else, who were completely stunned at what just happened…. "What? You've never seen a guy pick a lock before?" Olaf said, before giggling and making his way in through the door. Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff all exchanged looks of disbelief, but before they could say anything Olaf called out to them once again.

"Guys? Hey you proooooobably should come and see this!" He chirped. Elsa and Anna quickly strode inside, leaving Kristoff in the battle room with the Ice King's body, which he looked down at after everyone left.

"Hey! What are we gonna do just leave him here? What if he wakes up?" He called out, but no one responded. He sighed, and then flung the Ice Kings limp body over his shoulder like a bag of rice and strode in through the door. "This is why I don't like meeting new people…." The door clicked shut behind him.

* * *

><p>The trio entered the door to join Olaf and found that they were standing at the top of a very tall spiral staircase leading to the living space below. The living room was 30 feet tall and 40 feet wide, with an absolutely stunning view of the mountain range that stretched as far as the eye could see. The floor was carved with ornate designs of flowers and snowflakes all connected to each other, and a variety of shelves also made of ice lined the walls and held all kinds of urns and pots, also carved out of ice. The pottery was detailed with elaborate carvings much like the floor, and were of all kinds of shapes and sizes.<p>

"Wow…." - Elsa whispered, gaping at the room below them

"Dang, this guy is living the life…." - Anna

"Ah I dunno, needs more furniture" - Olaf. He then made his way down the spiral staircase with Anna and Elsa following them. The staircase was, like everything else in the castle, made entirely out of ice, and it reminded Elsa of the one that she made in her Ice castle…

'_I wonder if it's still there….'_ she thought to herself, as she grazed the railing with her hand as she descended down the staircase. Olaf and Anna began browsing around the gigantic living room while Elsa stood at the end of the spiral staircase, amazed at how the Ice king lived. Kristoff on the other hand didn't seem as blown away.

"Where do you want me to put skinny here?" Kristoff asked Elsa as he lugged the Ice King over his shoulder

"What? Oh, just, uh… Set him right here I suppose." - Elsa

"Kay." He replied, dropping the Ice King on the ground with a huge thud.

"I said set him there not drop him!" - Elsa

"Why, what has he ever done for us? Heck he froze your arms in ice!" - Kristoff

"That doesn't mean you just drop him on the floor like that, you might wake him up! The last thing we need is for him to wake up and summon ice spiders again..." - Elsa

"SPIDERS?! WHERE!?" - Anna freaked out, immediately scanning the ground with her frying pan she was gripping in both hands. Olaf then hid behind Anna, as he was terrified of spiders too.

"No there aren't any spiders, I was just saying not to wake up the Ice King otherwise he might summon them to attack me, again….." - Elsa

"He sent SPIDERS to attack you?!" - Anna asked in horror and disbelief.

"Thats like the most evilest thing you could do to someone!" - Olaf added

"Trust me I wasn't happy about it either…" - Elsa said, folding her arms. "So, what do we do with him?" she said, eyeing the Ice King's limp body at her feet

They all looked at the Ice Kings body, who lied sprawled on the ground where Kristoff carelessly dumped him. None of them could think of what to do with the Ice King.

"Well….. We can't just kill him… Can we?" - Kristoff finally asked.

"Maybe we should just tie him up for now" - Anna countered, not happy with the idea of killing the Ice King in his sleep. Elsa didn't like the idea either, and was on board with Anna's idea.

"Do we have any rope?" - Olaf

"We have the rope around the bag of food the guard slipped us, but thats it, and I don't think that'll hold for too long if he wakes up…." - Kristoff said, still carrying the bag. He then removed the rope and began to tie the Ice King's hands behind his back.

"What are we gonna do about your hands Elsa?" - Anna asked, still nervous about the possible damage the Ice King had done to her sister.

Elsa looked down at her hands once again, the feeling in her hands and fingers still completely gone. She no longer felt the ice in her veins flow down through her hands like it had so many times before. She was hoping that the Ice King didn't cause her some sort of permanent damage to her hands.

Elsa then made a terrible realization, and she clenched her eyes shut at it.

"What? Elsa what's wrong?" - Anna asked, mistaking her realization for sudden pain.

Elsa sighed and looked at Anna. "I can't feel my hands or fingers, meaning I can't use my own magic to burst through the ice and free myself….. The only person who can remove the ice….." She paused and looked down at the Ice King, whose body still layer on the floor with his hands tied behind his back.

Kristoff figured it out first.

"Wait, _him_? The Ice King?! Call me crazy, but something tells me he wont exactly be willing to unfreeze your hands Elsa, there's got to be another way!" - Kristoff

"Well, what else can we do? Unless one of you has a hammer and a chisel I don't see how else we can free my hands." - Elsa

"Anna has a frying pan! Couldn't we just hit your arms with it really, really hard and hope we don't break your arms in the process?" - Olaf

"I am NOT going to risk breaking my sisters arms with a frying pan, even if it IS to free them!" - Anna replied, balking at the thought of her accidentally breaking Elsa's rather thin arms with a cooking utensil. Elsa seemed pretty freaked out by the idea too, Anna could barely drive Kristoff's sled through town without almost running over 10 people, the thought of her trying to free Elsa's arms by bashing the ice encasing them with a frying pan seemed a little outside of her range of skill….. As a passenger during many of Anna's reckless drives through town, Kristoff also didn't like the idea, and offered up a different one instead.

"Maybe the Ice King can actually help us" - Elsa said as a peculiar thought entered her head. "Search him."

Kristoff looked confused. "What?"

"Maybe he has some sort of tool or something we could use to chisel the ice away" - Elsa clarified.

Kristoff knelt down and shoved the Ice King over onto his back. The mask he wore on his face had cracked from the force of Kristoff dropping the Ice King on his face, exposing his left eye and the upper left part of his face. Kristoff picked off the rest of the mask and cast the pieces aside.

Elsa gasped at what she saw, as did Anna, Olaf, and even Kristoff.

The Ice King looked to be in his early 20's, around the same age as everyone else in the room. His paper white hair lied gently on pale forehead, and he was breathing very lightly as if he were simply taking a light nap. He had light brown eyebrows that gently curved around his eyes, coming to a stop right where the bridge of his adorably tiny nose would have been. Elsa was so blown away by how he looked, she was expecting the Ice King to look as wretched and defeated as the old wizard looked…. Instead, The Ice King looked alright…. No, better than alright…..

_He was hot_

"Whoa….. He's _hideous_" Olaf said, opening one of the Ice Kings eyelids with his hand. A very blue eye looked to the ceiling without moving, which was as blue as a freshly carved glacier, a color that Elsa has always been drawn to.

"He actually looks a lot better than I thought he would, or better than most guys for that matter" - Anna replied, causing Kristoff to shoot her a dirty look. "Don't worry, he doesn't look as good as you. You're the best looking guy in the whole world!" - Anna said, giving him a gentle hug and a smile to reassure him.

"Anna please, this is no time for sarcasm. We need to search him!" - Olaf said, before digging through his pockets. Elsa, whose hands were still entombed in ice, could only stand there and watch the other three search the Ice King. She couldn't help but stare at the Ice King's face, it almost seemed like she had met him before somewhere. Her heart began to ache since it was torn between beating slower or beating faster, on one hand the Ice King was tremendously attractive, but on the other hand he did just try to kill her a few minutes ago.

_Imagine if Anna was still in love with Hans after she left her to die_

Elsa shuddered at such a horrible, horrible thought, and she finally got a control over herself again. She had been very independent from men in general for all her life, she sure wasnt going to fall head over heels in love with a crazy Ice King. She suppressed the feelings she had for the Ice King by reminding herself over and over that 1) He was evil, 2) He tried to kill her, 3) He froze her hands, and 4) That he summoned hundreds of ice spiders to attack her

"I'm not finding anything we could use to free Elsa's hands" - Anna said after searching the Ice King. He didn't even have any pockets, let alone some hidden tool that could be used as a chisel to slowly hammer away the ice encasing Elsa's arms.

"Maybe there is something around here we could use instead…. Lets explore the place and see if we find anything" - Kristoff offered as he got to his feet.

"Sounds good, but someone should stay with the Ice King to make sure he doesn't wake up" - Elsa

"Don't worry, I got this" - Olaf said, before walking over and sitting directly on the Ice King's face. "If he wakes up I'll let you know"

"Olaf if he wakes up, he probably wont be pleased that you're butt is on his face" - Kristoff. Anna giggled slightly at hearing the word 'butt'. Olaf moved down to the Ice King's stomach, dragging his butt across the Ice King's chest and face in the process. Anna giggled a little more at the sight of it.

* * *

><p>There were 3 doors leading to other rooms in the big living room, not including the one at the top of the spiral staircase leading out to the battle arena, so Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff each split up and explored a different room while Olaf kept an eye on, or technically, kept his butt on the Ice King. Kristoff entered the room that was under the battle room. This room was just as wide and long as the battle room, but this room was much, much shorter in terms of height. It looked as if it were an unfinished basement to the battle room above, and it was empty except for a few jagged ice carvings of various shapes and sizes coming out of the ground, all of them menacingly sharp and pointy.<p>

Anna found herself in the storage room. Most of the room was dominated by cupboards and drawers made of ice. In them were all sorts of tools, weapons, and clothing, much of the clothing though had been torn or had holes in them. They looked as if they were artifacts that people from Houkkaville had left inside the battle room on prior failed attempts to defeat the Ice King, and that the Ice King simply decided to keep them. One corner of the room had a door on it that appeared to be a giant freezer, but Anna couldn't get it open simply because it was too heavy. Apart from a few more shelves carrying pots also made of ice, there was nothing else in the room. One corner of the room though was eerily empty, which seemed even more out of place considering how cluttered the rest of the room looked.

Anna dismissed the oddity, and proceeded on digging through the heaps of clothes and various items that the Ice King had collected and stored in the cabinets. Kristoff wandered in after he had checked the other room and assisted her

Elsa on the other hand, had stumbled into the most interesting room of all, a bedroom with walls that were completely covered with books. Some books were stored in large open cabinets that rested on the floor, while others hung on bookshelves attached to the walls themselves. It was the smallest room in the castle, but it was still bigger than any bedroom that Elsa or Anna had ever slept in. On one side there was a space for a fireplace, carved into the wall that was shared with the main living room, the fireplace appeared to have been recently used since there was fresh ash on the floor. The wall facing the everlasting mountain range behind the ice castle had a double-door leading out to a small balcony, providing an equally stunning view of the landscape as the view from the large living room. Bookshelves lined the other two walls all the way to the ceiling, displaying all kinds of books of various size and width, along with old newspapers as well.

One book caught Elsa's eyes…. One that was unique compared to all the other ones in the room, one that was similar to another that had caught Anna's eyes just one night ago. Elsa walked over, clumsily picked the book up off the shelf using her frozen arms, and set it down onto the Ice King's bed, which was nothing more than a gigantic block of ice. Using her arms as gigantic frozen toothpicks, She carefully opened the book and started flipping through pages the best she could manage. It was a book of myths and tall-tales that was exactly like the one that Anna had discovered in King Micheal's bedroom, except this one was in slightly better condition.

As Elsa slowly, (very slowly), made her way through the book using one of the more jagged edges on her ice cast, she finally came across the story featuring her versus the Ice King. All the pictures in the book Anna found were in this one as well… The one showing the Ice King shooting ice at people as they watched on, the one where he was struck with ice powers in the chest, the one showing the wizard removing his frozen heart, the one where he goes up into the castle, the one where he and Elsa do battle, they were all there….. Elsa turned the page again, wondering if this book contained the page that was missing from the other book. To her surprise though, the page was once again not there, again torn out from the book by someone…..

"COOL!" - Anna said as she and Kristoff walked into the bedroom. Elsa almost jumped out of her own skin at how high-pitched Anna's voice was.

"Don't scare me like that!" Elsa yelled back, angry and still scared from Anna barging in like that and startling her.

Anna took one look at her. "Aren't YOU the one who told me not to go through other people's things?" - Anna said, folding her arms and looking disapprovingly at Elsa after she had noticed the book she was going through.

Elsa hastily closed the book with her still frozen arms and wedged it back on the bookshelf she got it from. "You guys find anything?" she asked. Even simple tasks like flipping through a book proved to be exhaustive for Elsa since her arms were completely frozen, and the longer they stayed like that, the more irritated and frustrated she would surely become trying to do simple tasks.

Anna shook her head.

"Theres a big collection of clothes and stuff in one of the rooms, including some old weapons, but none of them will be of much good if you don't want to risk accidentally have your hands chopped off in the process…." Kristoff said. He and Anna had found a couple things that definitely could have cut through the ice, including a large battle axe, but Kristoff didn't find anything that could serve as a chisel where they could more carefully free Elsa's hands and arms without accidentally hurting her. Elsa, frustrated at having her hands be useless in their entombed ice capsules, still was hesitant about trying to free them at the risk of having them be accidentally broken or chopped off. She wanted nothing more than to free her arms, but she wasn't desperate….

…...Yet..….

Anna eyed the books all over the room, amazed at how many there were. The Ice King's collection rivaled the library in Arendelle's palace. She wondered how many there were and how on Earth the Ice King managed to get so many of them.

"How many do you think their are?" - Kristoff. Even though he wasn't a literature fan, even he appreciated how many books the Ice King had in his room.

"I'm gonna guess 10" - Olaf said, waddling into the room. "OH, A fireplace!" He added, excitedly making his way over to the fireplace in the bedroom

"Olaf! You're supposed to be watching the Ice King!" - Elsa panicked

"Oh come on, he's not gonna go anywhere…." - Olaf said, looking around for a block of wood to chuck into the fireplace

"I'll go watch him" - Kristoff

"Here, take this!" Anna said, tossing him the frying pan with an overhand throw. He wasn't expecting it though, and he fumbled it onto the ground where it bounced around noisily on the ground before settling underneath one of the cabinets.

Anna stared angrily at Kristoff "Why didn't you catch it? You could've woken up the Ice King!"

"I didn't know you were gonna throw it at me!" - Kristoff

"I didn't throw it, I TOSSED it" - Anna countered

"Overhand throws are not tosses Anna" - Kristoff

Anna rolled her eyes and proceeded on getting down on her knees to reach for the frying pan, which was almost out of reach.

"I'm gonna search for firewood" - Olaf said, before making his way out the door.

"Okay.… Wait, what? No, no Olaf we don't need to start a fire right now" - Elsa

"You alright down there?" - Kristoff asked Anna, who was noticeably struggling trying to retrieve the frying pan

"Just give me a second!" - Anna said, grunting as she maneuvered her arm as far under the cabinet as she could get. She could get a hand on it, but the frying pan was wedged in between the wall and one of the legs the cabinet rested on and wouldn't budge.

"Here, let me see if I can get it from behind" - Kristoff said, wedging his way in between the bookshelf and the wall on the other side of the room to see if he could maybe move the bookshelf himself.

"Anna, Kristoff, be careful" - Elsa said, nervously watching from the other side of the bed.

"I don't need any help I got it!" - Anna said. She then yanked the frying pan as hard as she could and wedged it free from where it was stuck. She had yanked on the pan so hard though that it shot straight at one of the forward legs on the bookshelf and put a gigantic dent in it. The gigantic piece of furniture leaned forward slightly as its weakened leg cracked beneath it, and then the leg shattered into a hundred pieces. The bookshelf suddenly lurched forward and began to quickly fall over on top of Anna.

"ANNA!" - Kristoff yelled. He grabbed onto the sides of the bookshelf from falling over by holding on to it, but it was far too heavy for him to hold. Anna, who had crawled out from under the bookshelf but was still crouching right where the gigantic bookshelf was falling, didn't even realize what was happening, while Elsa extended her both of her arms and tried to blast the bookcase against the wall with her magic.

Anna shrieked, there was a tremendous bang, and the bookshelf came to a halt.

Kristoff, still trying to stop the bookshelf from falling cracked one eye open and saw Anna, curled up in a ball, covered with the books that had fallen off the shelves onto her. The bookshelf had stopped in its place, with two stacks of ice thrusting from out of the ground against the top edges of the bookshelf, suspending it mid-fall.

Anna scrambled her way out form under the bookshelf and Kristoff quickly pulled her to her feet.

"Anna! Geez are you okay? Are you hurt?" - Kristoff said, significantly freaked out over the close call.

"Yeah, yeah. I think i'm okay!" Anna said with glee after quickly checking over herself. She turned to Elsa, her arms still slightly extended outwards towards the bookshelf. "Thanks for saving me there Elsa!" Anna said with a thankful smile.

Elsa though was baffled, she hadn't felt the ice shoot through her veins and out of her fingers when she tried to save Anna. Her arms were still completely frozen.

"Anna….. I..… That wasn't me….." - Elsa stammered, still in disbelief.

Anna's smile vanished, and heavy breathing near the door caused the three of them quickly turn their heads.

There in the doorway, with two arms extended towards the falling bookshelf, hands clenched into fists and in an aggressive stance, stood the Ice King, who had an absolutely furious look on his face.


	13. Chapter 13: Acts of Aggression

Couple notes from the author:

1) Thank you all so much for the follows, favs, and reviews! Keep them coming :D

2) We are about halfway through the story now, but make sure your seat belts are fastened because its gonna get _really_ crazy, _really_ soon

3) 'houkka' is actually a Finnish word meaning 'idiot', so 'houkkaville' roughly translates to 'idiotville'. Just a little easter egg for yall

Back to the story:

* * *

><p>Everyone was petrified at the sight of the Ice King. Elsa backed further into a corner of the room with her arms raised in self-defense, Anna gripped her frying pan with both hands and held it around her head, and Kristoff maneuvered his way in front of Anna in between her and where the Ice King stood.<p>

"This….. is…..really...…heavy…...watch…...your…..feet….." - The Ice King grunted, his fists were still clenched and his arms were starting to shake as he struggled to hold up the bookshelf with the two spikes of ice that had shot out of the ground.

Anna and Kristoff looked down at their feet and moved them out of the way of where the ice shelf was gonna fall. The Ice King then released his hands, and the ice shelf plowed to the ground with a gigantic bang that reverberated through the castle. Elsa crept closer to one side of the bed while Kristoff and Anna defensively stood on the other side of the bed in between it and the now fallen bookshelf.

The Ice King put his hands on his knees and dropped his head, panting. Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff anxiously stood still as the Ice King tried to catch his breath from holding up the bookshelf. After he caught his breath, he stood up straight and casually looked at everyone in his room, eying Elsa the longest. His face had returned to its pale color, and his eyes and veins no longer looked as if they were about to burst out of him. He now just looked like some guy wondering why three people and a snowman broke into his house and hit him with a frying pan.

"What the hell are you doing here?" - He asked

"We were looking for something to Free Elsa's hands" - Kristoff

"Who?" - The Ice King asked

"Her, Elsa" - Kristoff said, motioning his head towards Elsa who stood on the other side of the bed.

"What I meant was what are you doing here, in Houkkaville, in my castle?" - The Ice King clarified.

"We came here to stop you" - Anna chirped from behind Kristoff

"Stop me from what?" - The Ice King

"From freezing Houkkaville in an eternal winter!" - Kristoff angrily replied.

"Yeah, um, I'm not the one doing that" - The Ice King

The comment caught Elsa and Anna a little off guard, but Kristoff didn't seemed phased by the comment.

"You mean you aren't the one who is causing this eternal winter?" - Elsa

"Of course not, its ALWAYS been this cold here..… King Micheal though convinced the town that I had started it just so that he could get them to try to kill me." - The Ice King

"Why would he convince the town that you did it if you didn't actually cause the blizzard?" - Anna said, lowering her frying pan a little.

"Because they're all idiots who will believe anything they're told…." - The Ice King

"Look, I know that the people of Houkkaville are kinda, loopy, but they're not THAT gullible….." - Kristoff remarked, the frying pan in Anna's hand was now resting at her side.

The Ice King looked down by Anna's feet. "See that 'book of mayors' book by your feet? Open it up to the first page and see who they elected as their first mayor." The Ice King offered.

Anna looked at Kristoff, unsure if this was some kind of trap or something. He glanced at her and gave a quick nod, so she squatted down and quickly opened the book to the first page.

The picture of the first page blew her away…..

_It was a picture of a chicken. _

"Its a chicken…." - Anna

"Yep" - The Ice King

"Wait, they elected a _chicken_ to be their mayor?" - Kristoff asked

"Three times as a matter of fact" - The Ice King

Anna turned to the next page, and sure enough, both pages had the same portraits of the chicken on them.

"What happened after that?" - Anna asked

"The chicken died…. And they reelected it two more times anyways" - The Ice King

Anna turned the page, and this time both pages had portraits of the same chicken, now dead, on them.

"You mean that these people elected a chicken to be their mayor 5 times, and the chicken was only alive for 3 of them?" - Kristoff asked, completely baffled at what he was seeing.

"Yes, those people are immensely stupid." - The Ice King confirmed.

Olaf then barged into the room, walking completely past the Ice King as if he hadn't even noticed. "Hey guys slight problem. Its not a big deal or anything, but the Ice King isn't on the floor in there so he might have escaped…."

"Olaf, we know that already…. He's standing right next to you…." - Kristoff

Olaf looked up at the Ice King, screamed, and then took off his nose and threw it at him…. It bounced off of the Ice king's face and fell to the floor as if nothing happened.

The Ice King stared back at Olaf, unamused. "Dont. Do. That." - He angrily muttered, staring at Olaf with both eyes.

Olaf casually picked up his nose and then waddled over to behind Kristoff next to Anna where he cowered in fear.

"Now then, what was your plan exactly?" - The Ice King asked

"Plan for what?" - Kristoff

"Your plan for actually stopping me. How did you plan on making me 'end' this winter?" - He asked in a soft voice. The Ice King seemed to be asking questions purely out of sheer curiosity rather then treating them as if they were in an interrogation room.

"Well, we, didn't really, have one" - Anna

The Ice King seemed pretty confused. He rubbed his eye with one hand as he tried to fully comprehend what Anna had said. Then after a pause, he said "So let me get this straight, you four came all this way from wherever you came from to stop me from doing something I wasn't causing, and you had no actual plan for making me stop the thing that I wasn't actually doing?…."

They all exchanged glances, realizing how silly the whole thing sounded.

"You know if we used that tone of voice to describe something you did we could make you sound pretty stupid too…." - Olaf muttered, while still cowering behind Kristoff.

"We were under the impression that you were an evil and homicidal maniac" - Anna added

"I can assure you that i'm not evil" - The Ice King

"Then why did you shoot ice spiders at me and freeze my arms?" - Elsa asked

The Ice King stared at her. "I'm genuinely sorry about that, I was under the impression that you all had come here to kill me… So why didn't you?"

Everyone in the room had now lowered their guard, the Ice King seemed more intent on learning their motives then actually threatening or fighting them. At least for now.

"What?" - Anna asked, confused by the question

"You came here to stop me and to end this winter, so why didn't you kill me while I was unconscious?" - The Ice King

"Cause, well, we still might have needed you to unfreeze my arms." - Elsa said, raising her arms as evidence to her claim.

"Hold on, If you're not evil, then how come you've killed so many townspeople?" - Kristoff

"I never mean to kill, only to seriously maim or injure. Unfortunately, idiots have an unlucky talent of finding ways to accidentally get themselves killed." - The Ice King

"Nuh-uh, I dont buy that." - Kristoff said, raising his fists back up into a defensive stance.

"I can assure you that i'm not nearly as evil as King Micheal and his merry band of imbeciles have told you" - The Ice King

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" - Olaf said, pouting accusatively at the Ice king while doing so.

The Ice King furrowed his brow, confused by the request. "How exactly could I prove to you all that i'm not evil?" - The Ice King asked

Everyone exchanged glances, not knowing how the Ice King could actually prove that he wasn't evil, before Anna came up with an ingenious idea.

"Unfreeze my sisters hands!" - Anna demanded

"Yeah! Unfreeze her hands if you're really not evil." - Kristoff said, excited at the possibility that the Ice king may after all thaw Elsa's hands for them.

The Ice King looked over towards the wall of books and thought about it. Then he glanced at Elsa's frozen arms which hung down by her side, and then he looked at Elsa's face. The two locked eyes again, and the Ice king relented.

"Okay deal, IF you promise not to immediately kill me afterwords." - He said, looking back at Anna and Kristoff. Anna glanced at Kristoff, once again making sure that she wasn't walking into some sort of trap. Kristoff still didn't trust the Ice King, not one bit, but it seemed like a fair deal. He nodded, and then Anna nodded.

The Ice King turned to Elsa once again, and carefully walked around the bed to where she stood. Elsa though was still very uncomfortable with seeing the Ice King walk towards her, and she backed into the corner where the bed met the wall as he approached. Kristoff, Anna, and Olaf meanwhile followed the Ice King, making sure that if he decided to pull a fast one and hurt Elsa, they would be close by to attack the Ice King.

The Ice King stood directly in front of Elsa, who was freaking out on the inside at being so close once again to the Ice King. He then carefully stuck out his arms and opened his hands.

"Give me your hands" - He asked cautiously, looking at Elsa. The two of them were almost at eye level, The Ice King being no more than two inches taller than Elsa.

Elsa, quivering, looked at the Ice King's hands in fear. She would rather stick her arms into a box full of gigantic hairy spiders rather than let _him_ touch her arms, but the numbness she was feeling in her hands and fingers was starting to become very painful.

She relented, and carefully placed her arms into the Ice King's hands, everyone but the Ice King very on edge about what he might do next.

The Ice King then closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. His hands once again developed a bluish aurora, similar to the time when he had summoned ice spiders back in the maze. Elsa kept perfectly still, and after seconds that felt like hours, the ice encasing her arms began to thin. Parts of her arms and hands soon became free of ice, and bit by bit, the ice in her hands evaporated into nothingness.

It was all over in just a few seconds, but it felt like forever. Elsa's hands and fingers were once again free of ice, and she raised them closer to her face to examine them. They looked fine, but when she tried to move them, a crippling pain shot through her arms.

"AH!" She shrieked, clenching her hands shut in pain. This though only caused her more pain and soon she slumped down onto the floor and continued to cry out in pain from how horrible her arms felt.

"Elsa!" - Kristoff cried out

BOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG

Anna had wasted no time at all. The second Elsa had yelped in pain, Anna had raised the frying pan over her head and plowed it into the back side of the Ice King's skull, same spot as the last time she hit him.

"AAHHH, DAMMIT!" The Ice King yelled, immediately clutching the side of his head as he went down to the ground. Anna though didn't stop there, and she stood over the Ice King bashing him with the frying pan over his head as hard as she could.

"YOU. HURT. HER." - She yelled dealing blow after blow. The Ice King had wrapped his arms around his head to absorb the blows though, and the frying pan only found the Ice King's arms and elbows.

"GIVE IT A SECOND, JUST GIVE IT A SECOND!" - The Ice King yelled. Elsa, who was doubled over in pain the entire time, started to feel the ice in her veins flow back into her hands and fingers. The ice felt cool, and it quickly numbed the crippling pain that Elsa was feeling.

"Anna wait!" - Elsa finally said said after the pain had resided to more tolerable levels. Kristoff, who had crouched down next to Elsa to see what was wrong, got up and then restrained Anna as she still tried to continue to beat the crap out of the Ice King. Anna, still infuriated at the Ice King for once again hurting her sister before she could stop him, fidgeted in Kristoff's arms as she tried to break free. The Ice King scooted towards the wall with his legs and one hand, the other hand clutching his head that had started to bleed.

"Anna wait!" - Elsa said again, this time loud enough for Anna to hear her. The pain was now almost completely gone and now just a fresh memory as her arms and hands felt normal again. She got to her feet and moved her fingers and hands in all directions, everything feeling normal. Anna meanwhile had stopped struggling and instead watched Elsa test out her hands. Elsa finally gave a smile, which reassured Anna that she was okay.

Kristoff though still was looking at the Ice King, who slowly got to his feet despite the beating that Anna had just given him. His hand was coated with blood, and a good amount of it was on the floor as well. The Ice King lowered his hand to his side, revealing the other half of his face, which was plastered with blood as well. He stared at Anna and gritted his teeth in fury, causing Kristoff to move between them once again.

Anna and Elsa turned to see the Ice King lower his hand, and the happiness they shared quickly turned into terror as they stared at the Ice King. He seethed in anger as the blood on his hand and face began to dry, his eyes fixed on Anna as he gritted his teeth. He looked at his hand to see how bad he was bleeding, and saw his palm completely coated in blood

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" He exploded at Anna, raising his hand back up to his face to stop the bleeding that was still happening.

"You hurt her!" - Anna cried back, slightly petrified though at how mad the Ice King was.

"She was in a lot of pain, we thought you had done something to her!" - Kristoff

"I didn't do anything you idiots! She was just getting the feeling back in her arms again!" - The Ice King yelled, he clenched his eyes shut though as yelling only made his head ring harder. Anna really did a number on him.

He continued. "Have you ever sat on your foot for a really, really long time, and then when you got up it felt really painful to walk again?…. Its the same damn concept!"

"I didn't know, i'm sorry!" - Anna cried out, realizing the mistake she had made.

The Ice King ignored her though. He lowered his hand back to his side, got up and began to walk aggressively towards Anna, fists clenched at his sides.

Kristoff moved Anna completely behind her and raised his fists again, but he was terrified at the Ice King, cause even though he was only a hair taller than Elsa, his face was now half covered in blood and he genuinely looked as if he was willing to kill all of them right then and there.

Elsa then got in between them.

"Wait, wait wait just, please, wait! She pleaded, raising up her now free hands to stop the Ice King. He looked right past her and still fixed his death-stare on Anna, who stuck out her head to see what on earth Elsa was doing.

"STOP!" - Elsa yelled, pushing hard on the Ice King's chest as he tried to walk through her. She got him to stop, but the Ice King quickly snatched Elsa's wrists in his hands and raised them up and out of his way.

"Wait, just wait!" - Elsa pleaded again, and the Ice King finally stopped. He now stared directly into Elsa's eyes, his hands tightened around her wrists as she tried to free herself. His hands grew their blue aurora again, and she could feel her wrists grow numbingly cold.

_He was freezing her arms again._

Elsa, terrified at the thought of the Ice King freezing her hands again and then hurting Kristoff and Anna while she helplessly watched, managed to stay composed.

"She didn't know! she didn't know! She thought you were hurting me and she reacted, its just how she is, please don't hurt her, please, please she's sorry! I'm sorry!" - Elsa continued to plead, but to no Ice King still stared at her with hatred in his eyes. For someone who couldn't feel feelings, the Ice King sure could look like he could feel. Elsa had never seen someone more enraged or mad at someone else in her life. A single tear welled in the corner of her eye as she felt her wrists, hands and fingers grew colder. The Ice King held them in a way where she couldn't shoot ice at him, so she was completely limited to trying to calm him down with words.

"It was an accident, she didn't mean it…. Look, just, please…. Don't hurt her…. Please…" Elsa whispered, fearful at the feeling creeping through her arms, fearful for Anna and Kristoff's safety, and fearful of the Ice King who, bloodied and enraged, was now mere inches from her face. The tear in her eye now ran down her cheek as she stood still, locked in a state of pure desperation and fear.

For several seconds the Ice King didn't move a muscle, resembling a statue of permanent rage, while staring at Elsa as she pleaded to him not to hurt Anna….. He took several deep breaths as Elsa clenched her eyes shut and began to cry out of pure fear. She didn't know if the Ice King was going to freeze her arms or break them, she could only hope for the best and tell herself that everything was going to be okay.

The Ice King looked up at Anna, who was on the verge of tears too as Elsa was now completely at his mercy after even though Anna was the one who had accidentally tried to beat him senseless. Anna was terrified at the idea of Elsa being extremely hurt for something that _she_ had done, but she didn't dare move a muscle and possibly enrage the Ice King any more than she already had. Kristoff was also scared at what would happen next, not knowing what to do in _any_ scenario. All he and everyone else could do was wait to see what the Ice King would do next.

The Ice King's deep breathing was the only thing that could be heard in the room since everyone else was holding their breath. Finally, the Ice King relented, and he relaxed his grip around Elsa's wrists.

"Crap" The Ice King finally said, he clenched his eyes shut in pain and raised his right bloodied hand back down to his head, the pain now becoming unbearable. Elsa snatched her arms back and backed away from the Ice King in relief, he then fell down to his knees with one hand still holding onto his head. Anna and Kristoff let out their breath and lowered their guard, thanking their lucky stars that the Ice King had calmed down.

The Ice King tried to get back up to his feet but faltered. Kristoff bent down to catch him, examining the wound on his head up close.

"Whoa, guys, he's lost a lot of blood…." - Kristoff panicked. He hadn't seen a wound this bad in quite a while

"What do we do?" - Olaf asked, emerging from behind the bed that he was hiding behind for the entire event.

"There's, there's some bandages and stuff in the other room, just get some of that and I'll handle it." - The Ice King said, the anger and hatred in his face now replaced with one of pain and anguish. Anna scurried into the other room and began searching in the storage room for anything that looked like a bandage.

Kristoff leaned the Ice King over on the wall next to the fireplace and tried to brush aside his hair to see the wound. A good chunk of the Ice King's snow white hair had become browned from the bleeding, and if they were gonna stop it then they were going to have to plug it. "Found it!" - Kristoff said after searching for a while. Apart from the numerous bumps from where Anna wailed on him with a frying pan, there was also a deep 3 inch gash on the Ice King's head, starting from just above his right eyebrow and extending back into the top of his head. Anna returned with some old bandages and handed them to Kristoff, kneeling down behind him to watch him work. Elsa than knelt down next to Kristoff on his right.

"Turn your head this way so that I can get a better look at this thing" - Kristoff said, gently shifting the Ice King's head with one hand while his other hand held his hair back so that he could see the wound. The Ice King's breathing was calm once again, and his face was more relaxed as Kristoff tended to his head wound. The Ice King sat perfectly still as Kristoff patched him up, the eye near the gash was shut while the other casually observed all of the blood that ended up on the floor.

Elsa saw the look in his eye, and recognized it immediately. It was a look of pain and a touch of despair, a look of being lost and hopeless of finding a way out of it. Fatigue and depression from being depressed and fatigued. Elsa had last seen that look in the reflection of a mirror long ago, the night after she had accidentally struck Anna in the head with her powers. She couldn't sleep that night, too horrified with the thought that she had almost maybe killed her sister because of her own irresponsibility, and she walked around her room that night as the accident replayed in her head over and over. Anna had spent that night in the infirmary under intense watch, so Elsa had the room to herself. The memory was fading, but one thing that always stood out and always would stand out to her was when young Elsa stared at her reflection in the mirror. She felt horrible about what she had just put her family through, and she was swirling with all kinds of terrible emotions at the thought of it all… Pain, despair, feeling lost, hopeless, fatigued, depressed, she felt all of them that night…

And now, almost 20 years later, she was seeing the same look in the Ice King. Even though he couldn't feel what Elsa had felt on that night long ago, the Ice King looked as if he was experiencing it firsthand. Elsa looked at the dried blood all over the floor and all over the right half of his face, and there was a LOT of it, but it was the look in the other half of his face that struck a chord with her. No one since Hans had ever made Elsa feel so wretched and hopeless about anything at one point, but as she knelt there next to Kristoff, she felt only sympathy for the Ice King as she recognized exactly what he was feeling, or rather, what he would have been feeling.

So there they all were. Kristoff was gingerly cleaning up the wound while the Ice King only occasionally flinched in pain. Anna and Olaf watched Kristoff work on the wound, while Elsa observed the Ice King. She came to realize how lucky and fortunate that she and Anna were at how things turned out, compared to how it could have ended had the Ice King gone over the edge….

"Thank you" She finally said to the Ice King, who raised his one open eye up to her. He opened up the other one a tad as he gazed up at Elsa, who looked genuinely thankful and concerned for his own well-being. Although she had only said thank you, he knew that she was more thankful for him not hurting her sister instead of deciding to not hurt her.

"I told you…. I'm not evil" - He said, flinching one last time as Kristoff finished bandaging the wound.


	14. Chapter 14: Old memories

Night was starting to fall in Houkkaville, and the once glamorous view of the mountains from the Ice King's castle was now replaced by the whiteout and whirling of the nightly blizzards. They had moved the Ice King into the main living room because the sight of all the blood on the floor in the bedroom was upsetting to everyone.

"Right here is fine" - The Ice King said, and Kristoff brought him to a stop, holding him up with one arm. The Ice King then extended both of his hands, and with a quick motion of his wrists, several chairs of ice appearing from the ground up took form, one for everyone in the room.

Kristoff sat the Ice King down in one chair, while Elsa and Anna sat in theirs. Kristoff then moved his chair across the floor over next to Anna, while Olaf struggled to get into his chair because it was too tall for him to climb into.

"Egh, hey guys, a little help?" - Olaf asked to the group.

The Ice King, resting his head in one hand, threw out his arm towards Olaf's chair and the legs of it vanished into nothingness. The chair clanged to the ground, and Olaf planted himself in it with a relaxing sigh.

And so there they were, sitting in ice chairs in the middle of the living room as night began to fall. The Ice King sat on one side of the circle, while Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf sat on the other side.

"So what's your story?" - The Ice King finally said, lifting his head up and setting down his hand. "I'm betting that all of you have been through some crazy adventures in the past"

Anna gave a casual laugh. "You bet we have"

"Alright then, let's hear it. We're stuck in here for the night so we might as well talk ourselves to sleep" The Ice King started. "Anyone wanna go first or should I start?"

"OH, DIBS!" - Olaf said, leaping out of his chair and standing in the middle of the circle.

"You don't have to stand up you can just—" - The Ice King

"SHHHHH, I know what I'm doing" - Olaf interrupted. The Ice King shook his head in frustration and let Olaf have his way.

"Okay, my name is Olaf, I'm a talking live snowman, and I am 2 years old, but mentally I'm at least 5." - He started. "Elsa built me with her magic, and she also gave me my own flurry to make sure I don't melt, and I followed them here because they're my family, the end." He then sat back down in his chair, and turned to Elsa as he eagerly awaited for her to go next.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, but then let it out.

"My name is Elsa, I'm 22 now, and I've had powers of ice and snow as long as I can remember. Anna is my younger sister, who I care about more than anyone in the world, and one day I accidentally struck her in the head with my powers while we were kids….. She was saved with the help of some trolls and had her memory partially altered, and after that day I had kept my powers a secret from her for her own safety….. Years later, our parents set sail to attend a wedding of our cousin, but a storm came and they were lost at sea."

She paused, letting the words sink in, and then continued with Anna nodding in support for her to keep going.

"When I turned 21, on my coronation day where I officially became Queen, I accidentally revealed to Anna and everyone that I had ice powers, and I ran up into the mountains in isolation, inadvertently plunging Arendelle into an eternal winter in the process… Anna came to get me, but I made her leave because I was scared I might hurt her again, which I ended up doing in the process. Shortly after that, Prince Hans showed up with a light army and took me back to Arendelle, where he planned to kill me and my sister in order to take over Arendelle. Anna though saved my life by sacrificing herself for me, and she also saved herself in the process." - Elsa

"Hold on, how did she save herself from becoming frozen due to a frozen heart?" - The Ice King asked.

Anna chimed in "An act of love thaws a frozen heart, and so by sacrificing myself for Elsa, I managed to save myself from becoming forever Frozen while also protecting my sister" - She said with a smile, glancing at Elsa who smiled back at her.

"Lucky you... Do you have any powers of your own?" - The Ice King asked to Anna

"Huh? OH, no, i'm normal... ish." - She cleared her throat then gave her story. "Im Elsa's sister, I'm 20, and this is my boyfriend Kristoff. He helped me save Elsa and defeat Prince Hans, who, if you ever have the misfortune to meet, is a truly despicable person… Other then that, I love sandwiches, I love chocolate even more, and parties! Yes, parties too! So, yeah." She finished, then turning to Kristoff.

"I'll pass" - Kristoff said

"Oh come on, you never tell us about your past! Pleeeeeease?" - Anna begged. She had only ever salvaged bits and pieces of Kristoff's past, never getting the full story as Kristoff would always change the subject to something else.

Kristoff sighed and then gave in. "My name is Kristoff, I'm 21, and I was raised by trolls and worked as an ice harvester and salesman before I met Anna and Elsa here." - He started

"Wait, you were raised by trolls?" - The Ice King

Kristoff turned to the Ice King in contempt and gave a single nod before turning back towards Elsa, Anna, and Olaf. He had never told this part of his past before, but after all the begging from Anna, he decided to finally let it all out.

"I never knew my parents. I was raised alone by an uncle of mine for a few years, who then left me when I was about 3. The two of us lived in a cabin, and then one day he just left and never came back. I went out looking for him, but I didn't find him." - He started, flashing back to the faded but painful memory…. "I wandered through the snow all night, calling out for my uncle, then calling out for anybody. I was hungry, cold, and tired, and the storm was getting worse. Then I ran into an ice harvester, who took me to his hut and cared for me until I could be returned home. When he took me back to the cabin though, my Uncle was inside, dead for some reason….."

The weight of his words sunk in, Anna the most shocked of anyone. For months she tried to fish out any detail of Kristoff's distant past to no avail, but now it was all coming out.

"I later found out that my uncle was a gambler who was deep in debt and blew an money he won on beer, whoever got him worked for one of the people he owed money to…. The Ice Harvester, who I only remember as 'Einrich', took me to an orphanage the next day and left me there, and that was the last day I ever saw him…."

He put his head into both of his hands and took a deep breath, the emotional toll of all the memories flooding back into his head shook Kristoff pretty bad. Anna put her hand on Kristoff as she had had enough. Although she desperately wanted to hear about Kristoff's past, she hated seeing Kristoff become so broken up over it.

"Kristoff if you don't want to you don't have to" - Anna said, becoming upset over how upset Kristoff had gotten.

"Yeah dude, hell, if you don't want to tell us you don't have to man, it's alright" - The Ice King said, also trying to console Kristoff

Kristoff took a deep breath and looked up. He wanted to once and for all get it off of his chest though, he was getting it out of his system once and for all. Keeping it all bottled up so long didn't heal the pain, but letting it out just might

"No, it's alright, I need to get this off my chest." - Kristoff. He took several more breaths, than continued. "One day I ran into Sven, my reindeer, in the forest when both of us were still kids and all. I was about 8 at the time. We became best buds, and I would routinely go with him to the frozen lakes where the ice harvesters would always harvest ice, looking for Einrich. I never found him though, and eventually i just started to join in the harvesting, helping in any way I can."

"So then when did the trolls come into it?" - Olaf asked, saddened from the story but still curious about how Kristoff ended up being raised by trolls.

"I was heading back into town with Sven at night when two horses ran past me, one of them, in their wake, caused the grass on the ground to turn into ice. I hopped on Sven and pursued them, and they led me to where the trolls lived. One of them found me and Sven, and decided to keep us and raise us…. I spent years alone being raised by them, when one day I ran into Anna at a trading post when her sister went kinda ice-crazy. After that, we fell for each other, defeated Prince Hans, and things have been going well ever since." - Kristoff said with a smile. It felt so good to finally get all of it off his chest, and Anna had brought her chair right next to Kristoff to console him.

"I later found out that my Uncle's last name was Bjorgman, and after I checked through some old town records, I found out that my parents names were Gustav and Helga Bjorgman. I dont know what they looked like, what happened to them, or why they left me with my uncle, all I know are their names." - He finished.

"That's rough man... If it makes you feel better, I never knew my parents either" - The Ice King said, still offering support for Kristoff. Everyone turned their attention to the Ice King, and he told of his past.

"I wasn't raised by my parents, or by an uncle or relative. I was raised by…. Someone else. He had white hair like me, pale skin, and he had ice powers too. He could also fly and do all kinds of magical things with his big staff that he carried everywhere, but for some reason, I was the only one who could ever see him. He also never wore shores for some reason..."

"Were you were raised by a spirit?" - Olaf asked

"Yes, i'm sure of that, but I for the life of me can't remember what his name was. I lost a lot of my memory on the day of the accident…. Hell I don't even remember what MY original name was, I've only ever known myself as 'the Ice King' since thats what the people started calling me after the prophecy came out."

He paused, then resumed his story

"The spirit who raised taught me how to use my ice powers so that I could look after myself. How to fish, how to hunt, how to build a shelter…. He was the closest thing to a 'guardian' I ever had. One day, I figured out that I could make some money on the streets of town as a beggar, performing tricks with ice for spare change from people. I quickly figured out that the more elaborate the ice tricks I performed were, the more money people would pay, so I started doing over the top stunts to try to make more money….."

The Ice King paused again. Where his memory had long been erased, the memory of the accident remained crystal clear.

"One day, I came up with this idea of using mirrors to shoot ice around myself really fast. I would set up mirrors of ice at perfect angles so that a blast of ice would bounce off of every mirror, then shoot multiple blasts of ice all at once to dazzle onlookers with a display of whizzing magic…. It went horribly wrong though. One of the mirrors wasn't angled right or something, and one of the ice blasts ricocheted and hit me right in the chest…"

He continued "My guardian and onlookers immediately knew that something had gone very wrong, and they rushed me to the wizard once my hands started to turn into ice. I was unconscious by the time I got there…. When I woke up, my heart had been removed, replaced by a magnum crystal or something. My guardian was gone, never saw him again, and I couldn't remember anything else other than everything I already told you guys... "

"Then, some prophecy was discovered that claimed a heartless monster would one day plunge the town into eternal darkness, and everyone naturally suspected me considering I had great powers and was quite literally, heartless. That was right around the time I got my name 'the Ice King'….. King Micheal then denounced me as a threat, assembled a small army, and ran me up the mountain where they cornered me, and I barricaded myself in my own ice fortress….. 15 years later, here I am." - He concluded.

A deafening silence hung in the air as everyone absorbed how tragic the Ice King's past was. Raised by a spirit who had vanished after the accident, without any memory of his past except for a few details, labeled as an enemy by King Micheal…..

_Wait a minute…_

"Hold on, you said that King _Micheal_ was the one who sent an army after you?" - Elsa asked, confused by one of the details in the Ice King's story

"Yes that's correct" - The Ice King

"But if he was already in power when the accident happened, that would mean he would have had to be at least, what, 35 years old by now?" - Elsa asked, looking at Anna and Kristoff to confirm if her math was right

"Yeah. Yeah wait a minute... Assuming that he was at least 20 when he became King and was 20 when your accident happened, then he would be almost 40 years old by now" - Kristoff

"That's cause he IS 40 years old, he only looks young because the wizard keeps giving him something to him so that he can stay young." - The Ice King replied

"What?" - Elsa and Anna said in unison. Olaf was scratching his head trying to comprehend what the Ice King was saying, while Kristoff was beginning to reject everything that the Ice King was saying as a lie.

"Hold on i'm confused, how did King Micheal become King if you could only be elected as mayor?" - Olaf asked

"He declared himself King after my accident to ensure that the alleged prophecy wouldn't happen" - The Ice King.

"Okay hold up….. You mean to tell me that King Micheal is 40 years old, has been taking something from the wizard to look young, named himself King after you had your accident, and also pinned this endless winter on you because of a prophecy that you say isn't about you?" - Kristoff angrily asked.

"Kristoff" - Anna whispered, trying to keep him calm after noticing his tone increasing in hostility.

"Yeah, thats exactly what happened" - The Ice King calmly replied.

"Oh come on! How do you expect me to believe all of that?….. Do I look like some type of idiot to you?…." - Kristoff

The Ice King looked Kristoff from head to toe. "You don't want me to answer that" - He sassily replied.

Kristoff stood up angrily at being insulted by the Ice King, Anna stood up next to him to try to calm him down.

"Kristoff, easy" - Anna

"He's making all of this up! Are any of you seeing this?" - Kristoff asked them

"What's your problem? I'm telling you all the truth" - The Ice King casually remarked.

"No you're not, you're just spitting out lies to try to get us to be on your side!" - Kristoff angrily snapped back.

"Does he always get like this?" The Ice King asked Elsa, who was caught off guard by the question.

"I'm not buying a word of what you say dude, you might be able to trick them but I'm not falling for it." - Kristoff said, before walking out of the room and back into the bedroom.

"Kristoff wait! where are you going?" - Anna said, following Kristoff into the bedroom.

Elsa and Olaf got to their feet as Kristoff stormed out of the room, and the Ice King got onto his feet as well. They stood there and watch Anna close the door behind them, leaving Elsa and Olaf alone with the Ice King.

"Now what?" - Olaf asked to Elsa, she and the Ice King exchanged glances and then looked towards the bedroom door, unsure of what to do. The storm outside had completely settled in, and the winds whirred powerfully outside the gigantic winter as night descended onto the town

* * *

><p>"Kristoff calm down, whats wrong?" - Anna asked, closing the door behind them to have some privacy<p>

"Anna, he's obviously making all of this up just so that we get on his side. Do you believe any of that stuff he said? That King Micheal is actually 40? That he was raised by a spirit? That he's not evil?" - Kristoff angrily asked

"Kristof shh, keep your voice down!" - Anna whispered

"Do you believe anything he is saying?" - Kristoff whispered back

Anna paused, thinking the whole thing over, before coming up with no conclusion.

"Some of it seems like a stretch, sure, but he was right about how the people of houkkaville are loopy" - Anna said, cutting the Ice King some slack

"But what about his claim that King Micheal is 40, or that he was raised by a spirit?" - Kristoff

Anna still wasn't sure what to believe, but Kristoff was so vehemently critical of the Ice King's story that she began to believe that he may be seeing something she isnt.

"What makes you so sure that he's lying?" - Anna

"Because this sounds like the exact same stuff that you had to deal with Prince Hans all over again, except this time he's aiming for _Elsa_" - Kristoff

Anna freaked out a little at hearing 'Prince Hans' and 'Elsa' in the same sentence, but what scared her more was how sure Kristoff seemed to be about it.

"Ice powers? Check….. She's immediately attracted to him? Check..… Sad backstory? Check..… Lived in isolation for years? Check… Thought to be a menace when allegedly he's good? Check…. He simply copied Elsa's own backstory when he gave his own, with a little extra crazy thrown in!" - Kristoff

"But why though? Why would he try to go after Elsa when he only met her today? He didn't even know that she existed until this morning." - Anna

"I don't know what his motive is, but i'm sure that he's up to no good. We need to keep an eye on him, and make sure not to leave him alone with Elsa." - Kristoff

The look in Kristoff's eyes were one of determination and concern. Anna was now convinced. The Ice King truly may be evil after all… And Elsa may be in grave danger.

* * *

><p>The wizard glossed over a potions book while the weather outside was still calm. during the nightly storms, his hut would shake back and forth from the winds striking the mountain at a rough angle, making it impossible to do any experiments. His experiments were mostly transformation attempts, where he would try to turn snow into salt or vice versa. The brew he had made recently had worked fine on living animals, but for some peculiar reason it performed very poorly when used on far simpler substances.<p>

He heard the front door whine open and close with a thud.

"Morph you better behave yourself in there!" The wizard yelled out without even batting an eye. Morph had ruined many of his experiments before, he wasn't about to let him screw up this one. He was already bitter from the fatigue that had suddenly set in from earlier this morning, and none of his usual remedies had resolved it. The Wizard was beginning to fear the worst, but he kept the thought in the back of his mind as he kept himself busy with more mundane things.

Footsteps chugged through the hall towards the Wizards den, and when the Wizard realized it couldn't have been Morph causing the noise since it didn't have feet, he turned to the door right as a battered King Micheal entered into the room. His clothing was torn and he was bruised in every place imaginable, he looked like he could barely keep himself on his own feet

"Ah King Micheal, fancy you being here so early. I suppose the battle didn't go as planned?" - Wizard

"Actually it went better than I could have hoped for" - King Micheal said with half a grin, cautiously walking up towards the table.

"Is that so? Then why do you look like you've been attacked by a pack of rabid wolves?" - Wizard

"Well the Ice King pulled a huge trick out of his sleeve and foiled the attack completely, but we think we still managed to kill him. Before that happened though, I was lucky enough to have plucked these right off of his head before we sprung our trap." King Micheal said, extending his hand and dropping a few strands of white hair onto the table.

The Wizard glanced at the hairs and then his eyes widened as if they were almost to pop out of his head. His jaw dropped, and his gaze ping-ponged back and forth between the hairs and King Micheal. "Is that, no it can't, is that, are those, are those what I think they are?" he stammered

King Micheal nodded. "I took one hell of a beating to get those, but I finally got them and managed to kill the Ice King. Can we begin the transformation?"

The wizard dashed over to the table and began carefully examining the hairs. "Yes, yes! Of course we can, assuming the Ice King is dead"

"I can assure you that he is" - King Micheal

The Wizard then furiously dug through his shelves of artifacts looking for the right powder, a powder he meticulously put together long ago and stored it away for this specific day. He finally found it hiding behind a jar with a frog in it, and a grin swept across his bony, aged face.

"Here it is, oh i remember the day I put you together, I was thinking I would have died before I ever even got to use you!" He said, rubbing the baggy gently against his face as if it were a pet hamster. He then turned to King Micheal "Put the hairs on the middle of the table and clean off all that other stuff on it.

King Micheal hurriedly cast aside all the stuff on the table and carefully placed the white hairs in the center of it. He had 10 of them, but he made sure not to misplace a single one anywhere.

The King set down the bag of powder next to the hairs and began flipping feverishly through his old book of spells. "Aha! Lets begin." he cried out in glee after finding what he was looking for. He read over the instructions. "Okay, for this to work I'll need a few hairs from you for this to work."

King Micheal, without even questioning the wizard, yanked out several heads out of his hair and placed them in a circle around the white hairs.

The wizard set the book down to the side of the table, cracked his fingers, and began the experiment.

"Gods and prophets of centuries past,  
>Here my plea from this spell I cast.<br>Harvest the ice powers from this being alone  
>And give them to <em>this<em> man for HIM TO OWN!"

The wizard, then threw half of the bags contents onto the arranged hairs as white smoke began to rise off the table. The white hairs in the center gave off a bright blue hue while King Micheal's black hair gave off a red hue. Both the Wizard and King Micheal stared at the cloud of mist as it reached up towards the ceiling, eagerly anticipating for it to turn a golden yellow as they had expected.

Time ticked by, but the smoke did not turn yellow. Instead, it had turned into a deep, deep purple before dissolving into the air in the room.

"What happened? Why didn't it work!?" - King Micheal asked the wizard furiously.

"It should have worked! I don't understand why it didn't! You did kill the Ice King did you?" - The wizard asked.

King Micheal paused. "I'm sure that he should have died"

"What do you mean 'should have', did you kill him or didn't you?" - Wizard

"I didn't personally see him die but i'm sure that my plan worked!" - King Micheal

"Well clearly it didn't otherwise the transformation would have worked! Why do you insist on trying to avoid the prophecy!" - The wizard angrily asked, walking over to a corner of the room where a heap of folders stuffed with papers lied. He fumbled through the stacks of paper before he pulled out the page he was looking, a page that he had been torn out of an ancient book of tall tales long ago. He cast the page on the table, which had two pictures on it.

On the top half of the page, there was a picture of the Ice King lying on the ground dead with King Micheal standing over him with a blooded knife.

But the picture on the bottom half of the page showed the Ice King alive and well with King Micheal being transformed into a pile of dust.

The wizard pointed at the page. "You must kill the Ice King YOURSELF, otherwise you will be killed later in time, you cannot keep hoping someone else kills him for you!" - Wizard

"You said yourself that as long as there were two living people with powers of ice and snow, then there could not be a third person also with the powers of ice and snow. Why does it matter who kills the Ice King? As long as he ends up dead then I can still harvest his ice powers as my own and end this winter, regardless of who killed him." - King Micheal

"Because the prophecy shows that that is not the case! Its an either/or scenario you dunderhead, either you kill the Ice King yourself and win" The Wizard said with a bony finger pointing at the first picture on the page "….. or the Ice king lives and you get turned into dust." He said, dragging his finger to point to the second picture on the page. "The spell doesn't need for you to be the one who slays him, but the prophecy requires it." - Wizard

"But I can't kill him! I can never even get close to him!" - King Micheal

"Then how in the hell did you manage to tear several hairs out of his head?" - Wizard

"It was pure luck…" King Micheal said after a pause and a deep sigh.

"Well regardless of how you got them, let me go ahead and make something explicitly clear to you. **YOU have to be the one to kill the Ice King if you want to harvest his ice powers, **there's no way around it" - The Wizard stated, as King Micheal angrily paced around the room.

'_Why couldn't the Ice King just do his job like he had so many times in the past?'_ King Micheal thought to himself, cursing his own bad luck. He then looked down at his own hands, which started to become pale and flakey. He also felt fatigued and his vision was becoming a tad blurry, all the signs that it was wearing off.

"Before I go… Let me use the flower again" - King Micheal finally asked

The Wizard's face softened. "Its been far too soon King Micheal, if you keep doing this with this much frequency, something may go wrong" - The Wizard countered with concern

"I've wasted 20 years of my life chasing after this monster that YOU created Wizard, the least you can do is restore my youth." - King Micheal

"But the frequency in which you are doing this is becoming troubling! First it was once every year or so, then it became once every few months, but now you've been doing this almost twice a month! We don't know what the side effects from such frequent use may be" - Wizard

"When the Ice King that you created is defeated, then I'll stop badgering you and I'll let age take its course. But until then, I demand that you let me use the flower." - King Micheal

The Wizard, ashamed at letting King Micheal guilt-trip him so much over creating the Ice King, once again gave in to the pressure and opened up one of the wooden floorboards. From the hole beneath it, he produced a flower, A 6 leafed golden wonder with pink and purple flairs near the stem of each leaf. He gently set the flower on the table in front of King Micheal, who then pulled it close to him and crouched over it.

He then recited the poem that he had memorized decades ago.

"Flower, gleam, and glow…..  
>Let, your pow-er shine…..<br>Make, the clock, reverse…  
>Bring back what once, was mine…<br>Heal, what has, been hurt….  
>Change, the fates, design…<br>Save, what has, been lost…..  
>Bring back what once was mine…..<br>What once, was, mine…."

The flower shined as King Micheal recited the poem, giving off a tremendously bright golden glow. Some wrinkles near his mouth and eyes faded away, patches of his skin became less pale, and his bloodshot eyes returned to normal. The fatigue that King Micheal felt from the day vanished, and his head felt clear once again.

He looked younger felt younger once again.

"Will that be all?" - The Wizard asked, placing the magical flower back into its hiding place beneath the floorboards.

"Actually yes. Something has happened to Queen Elsa and the party that she came with, but its something that can wait until tomorrow." - King Micheal said, making his way towards the door.

"What happened to them?" - The wizard asked

King Micheal hid a smile, pleased that the wizard had taken the bait...


	15. Chapter 15: Doorways

Anna and Kristoff exited the bedroom back into the living room, where Olaf, Elsa, and the Ice King were standing and waiting for them.

"You guys okay now?" - The Ice King asked, causing Anna and Kristoff to exchange nervous glances.

"Yeah, we're, uh, we're good... Hey Elsa, uh, we need to talk to you about something, real quick, in private…." - Anna stammered.

The Ice King rolled his eyes. "I'll go into the bedroom and you all can chat, I need to clean up all of the blood on the floor anyways….." - He said, making his way past Anna and Kristoff and into the bedroom, where he closed the door behind him.

Anna and Kristoff then approached Elsa, keeping their voices to a whisper so that the Ice King wouldn't overhear them.

"Elsa, we think you might be in danger here" - Anna

"We _all_ might be in danger here" - Elsa said, stating the obvious

"Well duh, but you especially might be in danger here considering the circumstances" - Kristoff

"I like to whisper too" - Olaf

"What are you talking about?" - Elsa asked, Anna turned to Kristoff and allowed him to explain.

"From what I've seen, I think the Ice King is trying to pull the same moves that Hans used to try to get to Anna, except the target this time is YOU, not Anna" - Kristoff clarified

"Yeah, Like how he, he…. What was it again?" - Anna interrupted before losing her train of thought

"There's the sad backstory he told us that we don't know is true, there's all the crazy claims he is giving us when we poke holes in his backstory, claims that we also don't know are accurate…" - Kristoff continued

"He's not evil guys….. If he were then he would have actually tried to kill us in the maze, or when he woke up when we were in his bedroom…." - Elsa protested

"He DID try to kill us in the maze, and he almost DID kill us in his bedroom!" - Kristoff countered

"He saved Anna's life from the bookshelf!" - Elsa

"And almost killed all of us when she beat him with the frying pan!" - Kristoff

"He unfroze my arms!" - Elsa

"Elsa, look, he might have done all of that to try to get you to believe that he is good when he isn't….." - Anna said, keeping her voice calm when Elsa's and Kristoff's were growing louder in frustration with each other

"There's no way to know for certain if he is good or evil, but i'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now because he has shown to me that he can be good." - Elsa

"And I'm betting that he's evil, Anna what do you vote?" - Kristoff

"What?… Oh, well, now I'm not really sure" - Anna started

"Wait, this isn't a vote Kristoff" - Elsa protested

"Yes it is. You vote he's good, I vote that he's evil, and so does Anna. Right Anna?" - Kristoff asked her again, wondering why she was now on the fence

"I haven't been impaled so I vote that he's good" - Olaf chimed in

"This isn't a vote you guys" - Elsa said, growing more irritated with Kristoff and now Olaf

"Anna you think he's evil right?" - Kristoff asked a third time

"I don't know anymore… Maybe?" - Anna

"What? You agreed with me that he was!" - Kristoff

"Kristoff..." - Elsa

"Well i'm not so sure anymore, maybe he isnt evil after all!" - Anna

"Guys!" - Elsa said, raising her voice to try to get control of the situation

"We agreed he IS evil now tell your sister that you agree with me right now!" - Kristoff pleaded to Anna

"ENOUGH!" - Elsa yelled out, blasts of ice erupting from her hands into the ground behind her where spikes emerged from the ground. She then stepped in front of Kristoff, pointed her finger at him, and went off. "First off Kristopher, you can't force my sister to vote for something that she is clearly unsure about so back off. Second, this isn't even up to a vote. Third, even if it was a vote, Olaf agrees with me that the Ice King isn't evil, which means its 2-1 that he's good even if Anna doesn't vote. Lastly, the Winter Solstice starts in not even 5 hours, and if i'm gonna be able to keep control of my powers throughout it, then you need to stop spouting conspiracy theories for the rest of today and tomorrow, GOT IT?" - She finished, in which Kristoff, Anna, and Olaf were petrified at seeing her snap like that.

Elsa, panting, took some deep breaths to calm herself down and regain her composure. She took a few steps back from Kristoff and gazed at the icicles emerging from the ground. Unlike the time she had a similar meltdown on the ship, this time the blasts of ice weren't done on accident….. Fed up with all the stuff she was dealing with, she had _intentionally_ fired off a blast behind her to let out some of the steam building up inside her, and added to it by giving Kristoff a piece of her mind….

_And it felt amazing_

Now that she felt calm again, she recomposed herself and lowered her voice.

"Look….. We're all stuck in here with the Ice King regardless of whether he is good or evil….. The only thing we can do until we figure a way out of him is NOT accuse him of lying, and NOT bashing his brains in with a frying pan…." - Elsa started, exchanging looks between Kristoff and Anna as she made her point.

She continued "I can understand why you might think he could be evil, but part of being a Queen and making rational decisions is looking at evidence as it is. What I see is that the Ice King saved Anna from being crushed by the bookshelf, freed my arms after he froze them, and decided to not kill all of us when we almost beat him to death."

"But what if he is actually evil Elsa, we're just worried about your safety" - Kristoff

"If he's evil, then you have to _prove it_" - Elsa

Kristoff finally relented and agreed to Elsa's terms.

"So then what do we do now?" - Olaf

"The ideal thing for us to do would be to find some other way for us to get out of this castle, but since that likely wont happen, the best thing we can do is simply be polite and not give the Ice King another reason to get mad at us."

The Ice King opened the door and peeked out of his bedroom. "I cleaned up the floor about 10 minutes ago but I waited in there to let you guys hash out whatever it was you needed to talk about. You guys still need more time or are you about finished?"

"No we're finished. Don't worry, we were only discussing about whether or not we think you're evil." - Olaf

Elsa pinched the space between her eyebrows with her fingers….

_Dammit Olaf_….

* * *

><p>"What happened to the girl and her friends?" - The wizard asked King Micheal again<p>

"I told you, its something that can wait until tomorrow" - King Micheal

"Dammit Micheal, the Winter Solstice is —" - Wizard

"KING Micheal, KING, Micheal" - King Micheal

"DAMMIT KING MICHEAL, WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM? The Winter Solstice is tomorrow, if something has happened to the girl with ice powers then I think I should know!" - Wizard

King Micheal sighed, looking down at the floor. "Since the Ice King is still alive, as evidenced by the failed transformation, then it means he has taken Queen Elsa and her comrades captive inside his castle." - King Micheal

"Do you know if they are still alive?" - The wizard asked, greatly concerned for Elsa's well being.

King Micheal rolled his eyes with a shade of disappointment in them. "Yes, i'm sure of it"

"How did he pull that off?" - Wizard

"I don't know…. It all happened so fast, but he did say that he will trade them back tomorrow in exchange for something in return" - King Micheal

"What does he want to trade them for?" - Wizard

"I have no idea….. He will give us his offer tomorrow on the day of the Winter Solstice, so all we can do is wait." - King Micheal said as he exited the wizard's hut. The storm outside would soon be raging, and if h waited any longer he would become trapped outside.

* * *

><p>After Elsa and Kristoff had settled their fight, they made arrangements with the Ice King that they all would sleep in the main living room and that the Ice King would sleep in his own bedroom, away from everyone else. The Ice King allowed them to pillage some old clothes from his storage room to use as makeshift pillows and blankets. All of them quickly fell to sleep, exhausted from the day they had, except for Elsa, who was too nervous to go to sleep because she was anticipating the rush of ice in her veins brought on by the Winter Solstice. Last time the winter solstice came, she almost had leaped out of her bedroom window from the surge of ice powers. It was the most terrifying way to wake up, being flung out of a bed like that, and all the exhaustion in the world couldn't prepare her for having that feeling again.<p>

She tossed and turned on the clothes she borrowed, wondering how many of them had belonged to people the Ice King had killed…. It wasn't a very comforting thought, and it only added to her fears that were keeping her up at night.

Then all of a sudden, Olaf sat up, got onto his snowy feet, and waddled over towards the door to the Ice King's bedroom.

_Olaf what on earth are you doing now? _

Olaf knocked on the door very gingerly, as if he was petting a butterfly. "Ice King?" he asked. He knocked quietly a second time. "Ice King?" There was no way on Earth the Ice King would be able to hear him

He then began beating the door as if he were trying to wake up everyone in the damn castle. Elsa almost got up to get him to stop, but just when she was about to leap to her feet, the bedroom door quickly flew open.

"SHHHHHH, you're gonna wake everyone up!" - The Ice King shushed him.

"I have to use the bathroom" - Olaf

"…Aren't you a snowman?" - Ice King

"Yeah, why?" - Olaf

"Do snowman have to go to the bathroom?" - Ice King

"Yeah, why?" - Olaf

"Just…. Whatever, the bathroom is this way" - The Ice King said, leading Olaf into the storage room across the living room that Elsa and everyone else was sleeping in. Elsa, keeping one eye cracked open, watched the two make their way into the storage room. Her, Anna, and Kristoff were under the impression that there wasn't a bathroom in the Ice Castle since they hadn't found one when they explored the place, so they had done their 'business' in the unused room underneath the battle room. Luckily nobody had to drop a number 2 yet, but now that there was apparently a bathroom in the castle, it wouldn't be an issue.

A deep rumbling then reverberated through the castle, causing Elsa to sit up immediately, as she had mistaken the rumbling as a sign that the Winter Solstice had come and that her powers had leaped out of control. Once she realized it wasn't her though, she quietly got up, and made her way over towards the storage room where she peeked inside.

In the unused corner of the cluttered storage room, the Ice King was bending his hands and wrists as blocks of ice separated from each other, revealing a secret doorway. The corner that the walls had met at were peeling back like an orange to reveal a dark passageway that bore into the mountain itself.

"Whoa" - Elsa and Olaf muttered in unison.

The Ice King then led Olaf through the entrance and turned the corner, and Elsa then snuck in through the entrance with them, making sure to stay out of sight. She kept hidden, but was still close enough to be within earshot of Olaf and the Ice King.

"Where do all these places go?" - Olaf asked, his question echoing through the room.

"That door there is the one to the bathroom, the staircase here leads up to the lookout post at the top of the castle, and thats a tunnel system i'm working on." - The Ice King said

"Cool! You have your own tunnel system?" - Olaf

"Duh, you think King Micheal and his band of fools actually have me trapped up here?" - The Ice King asked.

_Holy crap, there's a way out of the castle!_

_Wait, only the Ice King knows how to open the door to the exit….._

_Dammit!_

"Ahhhhh that feels better. Hey Ice King, if you had the means of escaping this place, why haven't you left already?" - Olaf asked from what sounded like inside the bathroom.

The Ice King paused. "Where would I even go?" He finally said after a while. "Even if I could make it out of here and not be seen or stopped, I've never been outside of Houkkaville, and something tells me that no other place in the world would want a heartless 'monster' with ice powers living in their town…."

Elsa peeked around the corner. The inside of the hollowed out hallway was dark and humid, but Elsa could see well enough to make out the combination of ice and uncovered mountain rock that comprised the walls, roof, and floor of the hallway. One one end of the hallway, the Ice King was sitting down in a corner of the wall and the floor, next to a small door of ice that was the entrance to the bathroom. Across from him was a spiral staircase made of ice that led up into a hole in the ceiling of the hallway leading up into the mountain towards the lookout post, the staircase looking exactly like the one in the main living room that led up to the battle room.

The other side of the hallway though was the gaping hole that was the entrance to the tunnel system which bore deep down into the mountain. The tunnel was completely pitch black to anyone who took just a few steps into it, and looked like it was the iced over tunnel to hell itself. There was almost no chance of navigating through it without a torch or some source of light.

"Hey Olaf, I know you're busy and all, but im guessing that Elsa is the one who created you right?" - The Ice King said, breaking Elsa's observation of the carved out hallway

"Si senor" - Olaf

"Do you feel feelings? Like Happiness, love, sadness, that kind of stuff?" - The Ice King asked

"Si senor" - Olaf repeated

"Do you have an actual heart?" - The Ice King

"Nope. If I did I probably would have died a while ago since I get impaled more than….. er, something that gets impaled a lot." - Olaf said, opening the door to the bathroom. "You might wanna wait ten minutes before going in there" - He said with a giggle. The Ice King rolled his eyes. The two then began to walk back towards the entrance back into the castle, but then Olaf stopped in his tracks.

"Wait a minute, how come I can feel feelings even though I have a heart, but you cant?" - Olaf asked with a puzzled face.

"I was wondering the same thing" - The Ice King said, stopping as well. He then turned to face Olaf. "Ive thought about it for a while now, but I think the circumstances of how we came to be may have caused it"

"Easy with the big words, I dont speak Spanish" - Olaf

The Ice King sat down in the hallway once again, now eye-level with Olaf.

"When Elsa created you, she _created_ you..… She set out to _create_ something somewhat human whether she intended to or not, and so you are the way you are because part of you was _created_ that way..… I on the other hand had my heart _removed_, meaning that i'm the way I am because part of me was _removed_….. And I think that is why you can feel feelings and I cant, because you were _created_ to be that way, whereas the part of me that made me human was removed…. Does that make sense?" - The Ice King asked Olaf.

Olaf nodded. "I wasn't listening to most of that but i'll pretend that it makes sense." He said with a blank face. The Ice King got a little irritated at that, but Olaf took a seat across from the Ice King to keep the conversation going. "Can you feel anything at all? Like do you have no idea what its like to be happy or sad?"

"Barely." - The Ice King replied. "I know that the heart is where a lot of people feel feelings, but its not the only thing that can feel." - The Ice King

"What else can make someone feel feelings if they dont have a heart?" - Olaf asked

The Ice King tapped on his head

"No it cant be that, I don't have a skull either" - Olaf said, shaking his head.

"No, i'm talking about a _brain _Olaf..… When you get happy or sad, you feel most of that type of stuff in your heart, but some feelings that you feel are felt more in the mind then the heart…. Anger for example. You can feel anger in your heart, but you can also feel it in your mind too. Like if you're irritated with someone, then you feel that in your head since you're thinking about how annoying they are to you" - The Ice King

Olaf perked up a little. "You know what that makes sense! When Kristoff talks to me about his days sometimes, I start to get headaches when he talks because I find what he's saying is really boring and unimportant!"

"…Right….." - The Ice King said, agreeing with Olaf even though his example wasn't exactly a great comparison.

"What other feelings do you feel in your head that you don't feel in your heart?" - Olaf asked.

"Theres not that many…. Pain mostly, then theres anger, bitterness, indifference, confusion… Mostly though you just feel… _Empty. _Not having a heart is kind of like being a brain just moving around on a wagon that is a body" - The Ice King

"hmmm that sounds unhealthy….. Are there any _good_ feelings that a human can feel without having a heart?" - Olaf asked

The Ice King shook his head. 'If there is one I haven't felt it yet. I haven't felt good in any way since my heart was removed all those years ago" - The Ice King

"So then for most of your life you've only felt the worst feelings you can feel and have never really felt good about anything ever?" - Olaf asked, suddenly sympathetic to the Ice King.

The Ice King nodded.

"Thats terrible… GOODNIGHT!" - Olaf chirped, springing to his feet with a smile and then waddling towards the exit. The Ice King watched in confusion and disbelief as Olaf walked out of the hallway, leaving on such a personal note.

Elsa was caught off guard by Olaf's exit, and she hadn't even thought about hiding somewhere to avoid being seen by him.

"Hi Elsa! If you're looking for the bathroom, its right around the corner over there." He said delightfully at the sight of Elsa. He then leaned in to whisper "You might wanna let the room air out a little before you use it though."

Olaf then, without another word, walked through the storage room and back into the main living room to go back to sleep. Elsa, pissed off that Olaf had given away her position to the Ice King, peeked back into the hallway to see if the Ice King had moved.

He was still seated along the hallway, staring blankly at the wall where Olaf was sitting just moments ago, thinking about the conversation still. He noticed Elsa peeking at him from around the corner, but he didn't seem too alarmed about it.

"Bathroom door is right there" - The Ice King said, motioning with a bob of his head towards the door. He then resumed looking at the wall across from him deep in thought.

Elsa felt like a kid who was caught listening to a conversation between grownups, but wasn't told to leave. She casually walked into the hallway to reveal her presence, but the Ice King still stared at the wall across from him. He had gotten really personal with Olaf about his situation, and Olaf didn't exactly leave at the best possible time in the conversation.

_Change the subject_

"How long did it take you to carve through all of this?" - Elsa asked him, looking around at the inside of hallway that was carved straight through the mountain.

"A long time… It was really hard at first but you get the hang of it after about 6 years." - The Ice King muttered, still staring at the wall across from him.

Elsa then sat down by the wall across from the Ice King near where Olaf had sat, but she made sure not to disrupt the Ice King's gaze.

"Was Olaf something you created on purpose or by accident?" - The Ice king asked, still locked in his previous train of thought. Elsa realized that there was no use in changing the subject, so she casually went along with it.

"Well….. Sorta. When I created Olaf using my ice powers, I only meant to create a simple snowman that me and my sister used to build as kids. But then this time he came to life and was, well, alive." - Elsa

"Thats pretty amazing, being able to create something like that and having him turn out to be happy and nice and all that." - Ice King

"He can be a handful at times, don't let him fool you" - Elsa

"Oh i'm aware, I also accidentally created a side-kick using my ice powers. He didn't turn out like Olaf did though, mine turned out to be sort of a dick" - The Ice King

"Wait…. You have a side-kick too?" - Elsa asked, bewildered that she had not noticed a henchmen anywhere

The Ice King nodded. "He was one of the ice spiders I made during a battle one time who happened to have a personality and a brain and all that. His name is Axis. If you run into him then watch out, he is usually up to no good." he added

"Where is he now?" - Elsa asked, checking her surroundings for anything that looked like an ice spider.

"Don't worry he's not here. He goes out into town and spies on the town for me. Once in a while he'll make a trade with the Wizard's assistant and get me another book to add to my collection" - The Ice King said reassuringly

_So THATS how he got all of those books…._

"You're quite the book enthusiast from what Ive seen" - Elsa

The Ice King nodded. "Well when you're locked up in an ice castle for most of your life you get bored pretty quick. When I don't feel like reading I'll make some pottery out of ice or go out hunting."

Elsa saw her chance.

"You go through those tunnels to go hunting I assume?" - She asked

The Ice King nodded again. "The tunnel over there splits into two after a short while. The one on the right takes you out to the mountain range you see from the living room, the other leads out into Houkkaville, though only Axis uses that one."

_Tunnel on the left leads to freedom, good to know_

Now that Elsa got the info she was looking for, she casually settled into the conversation with the Ice King.


	16. Chapter 16: Motives

Elsa and the Ice King casually talked all through the night, telling each other of past adventures they both had, hobbies they have, things that drive them nuts, etc. After a while the conversation shifted to discussion of their ice powers and how they manage it, including how in the last Winter Solstice Elsa had almost no control over her powers at all. Elsa, who originally only cared about learning of a way out of the castle, began to open up to the Ice King a little more since she never had the chance to really talk in depth to someone about her powers who was sort of in the same situation as she was. The Ice King meanwhile was just happy to have someone to talk to period.

"Even to this day I struggle to keep my powers under check, and keeping my emotions in check as well, but what I learned from the accident is that sometimes its best to not keep everything inside, and that sometimes you just have to let it all out." - Elsa finished, telling about how she tried to fight all feelings she had to retain control of her powers.

"I have the opposite problem on that one. Your situation was that you feel too much, my problem is that i don't feel at all. I don't have anything to 'let out' so to speak." - The Ice King

"But you have so much control over your powers, I struggle to balance myself between being in control and being human, but you have always been in control." - Elsa

"At the cost of being human though, which isn't really a good trade-off" - The Ice King protested. "Not having feelings…. Not having a heart…. It almost doesn't even make you human in the first place. Sure I have great control over my powers, but id rather have less control over them instead of having the emotional capacity of a spoon." - He finished

Elsa, trying to not chuckle at the Ice King comparing himself to a spoon, realized just how empty the Ice King must feel on the inside for not being able to feel much at all. While Elsa absolutely hated at times how her emotions would well up inside her to the point of overflowing, even she could see why it would be better to have too much emotions some of the time rather than have zero emotions all of the time…..

"I used to want what you have" - Elsa said after a slight pause. "When i was younger, I wanted nothing more than to get rid of my feelings so that I could see and think clearly and feel more in control over everything in my life….. But now I can see why I shouldn't want that…. Being in control while having no emotions sounds like being in control, but really having nothing of real value to be in control of….."

The Ice King nodded. "Thats pretty much been the story of my life… That and King Micheal trying to kill me once every couple of weeks."

"Do you have any tips for maybe how I can get more control over my powers? I mean, I know that what might work for you may not work for me since we're so different, but if you have any thoughts, its worth a shot." - Elsa asked

The Ice King briefly closed his eyes and leaned his head up against the wall to think. After a couple of seconds, he came up with an idea.

"I think that the more frequently you use your powers, the more you understand how they work… I don't know how frequently you use your powers, but I use mine on a regular basis, so I know pretty well how whatever magic that I have works. If you know how something works, you feel more confident and more in control when using them." - The Ice King

Elsa nodded in agreement. She could remember times in the past where she would become very unsure of her control over his powers, and in each case, it happened at a time when she hadn't used her powers in quite a while.

"Alright, we should probably go to sleep, i'm starting to feel exhausted" - The Ice King said, making his way to his feet and stretching.

"Yeah we should probably sleep. The Winter Solstice is gonna start soon so I should get some sleep while I can." - Elsa said, getting to her feet as well.

"Uh, the Winter Solstice already started…" - The Ice King

"What?" - Elsa

"Well yeah, its probably almost morning now. Its been the Winter Solstice for a while" - The Ice King said

Elsa was in disbelief, she had been dreading the Winter Solstice since the last one she experienced, fearing of the inevitable loss of control over her powers like last time. Instead, the Winter Solstice had come, she wasn't panicked, and the ice in her veins lay dormant, as if they were asleep. One thought repeated itself in Elsa's mind as she and the Ice King re-entered the ice castle.

_If the Winter Solstice is already here, then why do I still have full control over my powers?_

* * *

><p>It was morning. Elsa was finally sound asleep in her makeshift 'bed' along with Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf, while the Ice King retired to his own bedroom for the rest of the night. All sound asleep, nobody was awake when the Ice King's side-kick, Axis, the ice spider, made his way into the main living room. He was lugging with him a little sack of powder twice his size on his back, and was casually making his way down the stairs when he noticed Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and the snowman all sleeping in the living room.<p>

"What is the meaning of this!?" - The Ice Spider yelled out, but his small size made it impossible to hear him, and everyone in the castle continued to snooze. Enraged by their presence, the spider hastily made his way down the spiral staircase from the battle room to the floor of the living room. _How dare these intruders raid masters castle and pillage from his collection, they must be immobilized, as thats what the master had ordered!_

Axis looked at Olaf in confusion and horror as the snowman slept on the floor, muttering incoherent statements every four seconds. He didn't seem like much of a threat, so Axis made his way over towards the target who looked like the biggest threat, Kristoff. Climbing on his chest, Axis untainted the string on the bag he was carrying, removed a glob of powder from it, and shoved it up Kristoff's nose.

_Lets see you wake up from THIS slumber now!_

Axis made his way over towards the next closest human, Anna, and proceeded on doing the same thing. Anna however kept shifting in her sleep, tossing Axis off of her every time. Finally he stood still next to Anna's head, a clump of powder between two of his hands, and waited. Sure enough, Anna shifted one more time, now her head facing Axis, and he shoved the clump of powder into her nose.

_Two down and one to go, master will be most pleased!_

Axis then scurried onto Elsa, muttering about how uncultured these people were to break into a castle and raid the supplies they found within. "Never since the tale of Goldilocks have I heard of such blatant disregard by a stranger for a person's belongings….. They must be immobilized!"

Axis then made her way onto Elsa, crawling up from her neck onto her throat before settling on top of her mouth. As he dug through the bag he was carrying which was now almost empty, Axis began to curse as he struggled to handle the last of the big clumps of powder in the baggie. His cursing grew progressively louder as he continuously failed to mold the powder into one clump, which finally caused Elsa to stir and wake up.

She felt the tingling on her mouth, and casually wiped her hand over it, suspecting it was drool or some article of clothing that had ended up on her face. The top of her hand scooped up Axis from her face, causing him to drop the baggie of powder. Elsa creaked her eyes open as Axis struggled to hang onto the top of Elsa's hand, and when he finally regained his stance Elsa had fully woken up.

Elsa got a good look at Axis only for a second, before he lept onto her face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" - Elsa shrieked, swatting away Axis and reviling in horror as the spider kept climbing onto her. She flailed her arms and hands at Axis as he tried to attack her, her shrieks piercing through the castle as if she was being viciously stabbed to death.

Olaf woke up screaming, and the Ice King soon leapt through the doorway into the living room.

"WHAT WHAT WHATS GOING ON?" - He yelled out frantically.

Olaf then pointed at the Ice King's face and screamed as loud as Elsa was screaming. Elsa, who had now gotten up and was frantically maneuvering away from Axis, was still too horrified and freaked out at Axis's unrelenting assault on her to get the Ice King to stop him. Axis, who hadn't heard the Ice King call out, still was trying to leap onto Elsa in a pointless attempt to somehow subdue her.

The Ice King saw Axis assaulting Elsa, and without hesitation fired off a quick burst of ice from his palm and slung Axis across the room away from Elsa, who quickly ran over to the Ice King's side.

"AXIS STOP" - The Ice King yelled out to him, positioning himself in between Axis and Elsa.

"Master, there are intruders in your castle!" - Axis said, stating the obvious.

"I know that they are here Axis, they're not enemies! They're friendly!" - The Ice King clarified. Elsa, still breathing uncontrollably, had placed her hands on the Ice King's back as if she were preparing to shove him at Axis had he tried to leap at her again.

"What do you mean they are friendly, they are intruders!…. MASTER, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?" - Axis yelled out, noticing the bandage still around the Ice King's head from where Anna had beat him with a frying pan.

"Axis stand down, thats an order!" - The Ice King yelled back at him. Axis finally obliged, pulling his legs closer into his body from their outstretched attacking stance.

"Master, I thought they were intruders! What happened to your face?" - Axis asked again, this time in a calmer voice.

"Theyre friendly, they're not here to kill me, just relax, its okay" - The Ice King said, motioning for Axis to relax further. Elsa meanwhile had begun sobbing at how terrifying the ordeal she just went through was. "Hey, hey, shhhh, its alright now, its okay" The Ice King said, giving a gentle hug to try to calm Elsa down.

Elsa had never been so terrified in her life, knowing that at one point a large spider had sat on top of her mouth while she slept, then leapt at her face the minute she woke up, then continued to try to leap on her as she frantically tried to get away from it… The fear was so abundant that she couldn't even feel the ice in her veins or use her magic in self defense, she had completely locked up in a sense. The Ice King's gentle hug though slowly got to calm down, as she felt an unusual but reassuring warmth from him. Still sobbing, her breathing slowly began to calm down as she tightly hugged the Ice King back, still terrified over the whole ordeal.

Seconds turned into minutes as the Ice King and Axis patiently waited for Elsa to recollect herself from the terrifying ordeal. The Ice King also felt the unusual warmth from the close contact with Elsa, but he was far more concerned with ensuring that she was alright rather than what he was feeling at the moment.

"There you go, better?" - The Ice King asked Elsa, removing his arms from around Elsa. Elsa though hung on around the Ice King for several seconds longer, fighting back tears as before finally getting it together.

"Y-yeah. Im f-fine. Just, j-just really was scared there" - Elsa stammered, overwhelmed by everything she was feeling now. She could feel the ice flow through her veins again, the casual warmth she had felt from the Ice King had broken through the paralyzing fear and terror she had felt as if it had healing properties.

The Ice King, having noticed that Anna and Kristoff had slept through the entire episode, quickly turned to Axis to see what he had done.

"What were you doing?" - He demanded, still keeping one hand on Elsa's back to reassure her

"I thought they were intruders, so I used some sleeping powder I had scored off of the wizard and used them on those two until I could find you. I was about to drug the girl behind you until she woke up and caught me in the act" - Axis

"Axis, what have I told you about drugging people?" - The Ice King

"To do it to anyone who is in the palace who isn't you?" - Axis

"No, to do it to anyone who is UNWELCOME in the palace who isn't me" - The Ice King clarified

"But how was I supposed to know if they were unwelcome or not? You weren't around!" - Axis protested, feeling as if he had done nothing wrong still.

"Okay one, I was in the bedroom where I always am in the morning, you could have checked in there for me before doing anything, and two, you could have easily just stayed hidden and observed them from a distance to see if they were hostile or not!" - The Ice King countered, removing his hand from behind Elsa's back now that she was standing upright and was no longer sobbing.

"I'm sorry master, I'm so, so sorry, please forgive me master" - Axis now pleaded. Although he still did not regret his actions, the one thing Axis cared about more than anything else in the world was having the Ice King be mad at him.

"Its fine, its fine, geez." - The Ice King said, pinching the space between his eyebrows with two of his fingers. Being woken up so early after such little sleep to the sound of bloodcurdling screaming had given the Ice King one hell of a migraine, but at least the conflict had been resolved.

Elsa finally got her voice back so that she didn't stammer. "He is a LOT bigger than those other ice spiders you summoned, and having him on my face just freaked me out" - Elsa said to the Ice King, feeling a tad foolish for reacting so cowardly

"Dont, its fine, anyone would have freaked out. From what I understand most people are terrified of spiders anyways. - The Ice King replied as he glanced over towards Anna and Kristoff. "How much of that sleeping powder did you use on those two?" - He asked Axis.

"Almost the entire bag, I wanted to make sure that they would be knocked out for a while" - Axis

"Are they going to be okay?" - Elsa asked the Ice King

He glanced back at her "If it was just sleeping powder then they should be alright after a while" - The Ice King said, while Olaf began to casually nudge Kristoff's cheek with his foot.

"I dunno, I kind of like them like this when they dont talk and stuff" Olaf cheerfully remarked, hopping onto Kristoff's chest and turning him into a bed again.

"Axis how did you even get sleeping powder from the wizard? Im pretty sure all I asked you to do was see what their plans were for attacking the castle, and that was like two days ago!" - The Ice King asked Axis

"I couldn't find morph anywhere to fish it out of him so I had to find out on my own. I went around town seeing if I could overhear anything but that didn't work, so I went to the wizards hut to see if he would say anything. While I was there I managed to get some high-grade sleeping powder, and after the attack happened I simply tried to haul it back into the castle. Do you know how long it takes for me to come up this mountain when hauling something twice my size?" - Axis

"Alright, alright, thats fine. Is there any sleeping powder left?" - The Ice King asked.

"Why would morph help you and Axis about King Micheal's attacks?" Elsa asked the Ice King, confused over what Axis had said

"Oh, Morph will tell any secret to anyone just to feel important, he's a real gossiper and has no loyalty to anyone. He's actually been very handy to us several times in the past, even though he doesn't know it….. So Axis, is there any sleeping powder left?" - The Ice King

"I dropped the bag of it over there, there isn't much left though" - Axis said, pointing in the direction of the bag with one of his 8 legs.

The Ice king walked over towards the bag and picked it up, a little let down by how empty it was. Axis wasn't kidding, he had used up the entire thing knocking out Anna and Kristoff. Only trace amounts of the purple powder remained on the inside of the bag.

"What can we do to help them?" - Elsa asked.

"They can help us by being nice, warm pillows…." - Olaf said, dozing off on Kristoff.

"Theres a couple books on this type of stuff in my room somewhere, we can go check them and see if there's some sort of antidote, then all we would have to worry about is getting it" - The Ice King said, picking up Axis with his hand and setting him on his shoulder. The two of them made their way towards the bedroom, and Elsa casually tugged Olaf's arm to get him to come to. After a little protesting, Olaf finally got to his feet and trudged into the bedroom to join them, leaving Anna and Kristoff motionless on the floor.

* * *

><p>The Wizard, worried all night at the thought of the Ice King somehow holding Elsa and her group for ransom, impatiently awaited for King Micheal's arrival to enlighten him about what was happening.<p>

When the nightly storms died down, no one came.

When it was noon, no one came

Then at 3 o'clock….. still no one came

It was only until the sun itself began to dim as it set that King Micheal finally arrived at the wizards hut.

"WELL ITS ABOUT TIME" - The Wizard bellowed before King Micheal could even step inside the hut. King Micheal closed the door as he entered, then removing his cloak and setting it on a rack near the door.

"Well? Out with it, what has he done?" - Wizard

King Micheal sighed and looked at the Wizard in despair. "The Ice King stated that he will only release the Ice Queen and her party when we cede control of the kingdom to him" - King Micheal

"Unacceptable. Simply unacceptable" - The Wizard immediately replied, shaking his head as if King Micheal had asked for his opinion.

"He also stated that if we refuse, he will use the power he gains from the Winter Solstice to take Queen Elsa's ice powers and absorb them into his own powers..." - King Micheal

The wizard was taken aback. "What? Thats not possible! He cant do that! Can he…..? No, no of course he can't….. Please tell me he can't" The wizard muttered, pacing in all directions trying to figure out if the Ice King could pull off such a feat.

"The Ice King said that he will wait until tomorrow for us to give him an answer. While I have my own doubts that he could even harvest Elsa's ice powers in the first place, we certainly cant afford for him to gain such powers if he somehow succeeds…. At the same time though we cant simply surrender to him, as he may harvest her powers anyways" - King Micheal said, leaning on a heap of clutter in one side of the hallway

"There's gotta be something else we can do! We cant surrender, but we cant risk the Ice King harvesting Elsa's powers either…." - Wizard

"I doubt even the magnum crystal could even help us at this point." - King Micheal calmly remarked.

The wizard froze in his tracks….. He immediately had a suspicion that King Micheal may be making the situation look bleak just so that he could coax the wizard into using the magnum crystal, as he had tried to do so many times in the past….. This time was different though, the Ice King had a hostage. A very, very important hostage too. If she were to be lost, the wrath of Arendelle would become a greater problem to them then any posed by the Ice King, even if he did harvest Elsa's ice powers… The Ice King couldn't be allowed to harvest her powers or even just kill her, but agreeing to surrender was no guarantee that he wouldn't do that either.

There was no other way. The time had come.

"The magnum crystal can help us…." - The wizard said, keeping one eye on King Micheal to gauge his reaction.

He didn't seem to believe the wizard, instead simply shaking his head a single time.

"The Ice King cannot be stopped during the Winter Solstice, any advantage the ice crystal could give us would be useless compared to the Ice King's might right now. We could only use the crystal tomorrow when the Winter Solstice has ended, but by then the Ice King would have already taken Elsa's powers or killed her..." - King Micheal

His doubt seemed sincere, so the wizard continued.

"There is a way... Magnum crystals themselves are really two crystals in one you know. You have the hardened, outer portion that is stable and holds the crystal together….. And then you have the insides, which are far more unstable and contain very raw, powerful magic for those who can control it." - Wizard

King Micheal's interest grew as the wizard elaborated.

"Hypothetically speaking, we could use a common spell used to summon rock minions, and lace them with powers that are contained within a magnum crystal…. Since the crystal itself is inherently metallic and earthly in nature, rock minions could be laced with its power since they too are earthly. Then we could unleash such minions onto the Ice King's castle when you go to give your answer, free Elsa and her friends, and maybe even kill the Ice King himself once and for all!" - Wizard.

"Powers?…" - King Micheal asked in confusion after he paused to absorb everything the wizard was telling him. "What do you mean by 'powers'? What 'powers' could the magnum crystal possibly give them?"

The wizard gleefully grinned in excitement. He scurried over towards another heap of supplies on the wall, and then produced a pinch of red power from a little bag. He whipped around to face King Micheal, and snapped his fingers with the red powder still in his hand.

A spark shot off from his hand, and a gentle flame presented itself in the palm of the wizards hand.

"What all do you know about _fire_?" - He gleefully asked King Micheal, who stared back at him in wonder


	17. Chapter 17: Love and Other Drugs

Elsa stirred from her sleep. She, the Ice King, and Olaf sat around the floor and bed of the Ice King's bedroom with books opened up all around them. They had searched through almost every book the Ice King owned for hours, but they made no progress on finding some sort of antidote for the sleeping powder that Axis had slipped Anna and Kristoff. After several hours of reading, despite eating the food in Kristoff's bag for energy, Elsa's eyelids became too heavy for her to keep reading, and she took a nap that quickly stretched from a few minutes to a couple hours. The thought of reading sucked what little energy she had left out of her, but she wasn't tired enough to go back to sleep, so she lied perfectly still in sleep-limbo, waiting to either doze off again or suddenly feel a surge of energy wake her up.

"Well that was a waste" Olaf said as he tossed a book across the room. "There weren't any pictures in that book anywhere!"

"Olaf we're looking for a cure for the sleeping powder, not for a book with pictures in it…." - The Ice King

"Correction, YOU are looking for a cure for the sleeping powder, I gave up on that a while ago" - Olaf

"How long did you try to look for an antidote exactly?" - The Ice King asked

"About 11 minutes after we started…. Then I found that coloring book and I just played with that for a while" - Olaf

"Olaf I don't HAVE any coloring books….." - The Ice King

"Oh…. In that case you're gonna get mad when you see what I did in your 'history of insects' book…." - Olaf

"Ugh... Its fine, I didn't even like that book anyways" - The Ice King said after a deep sigh, closing the book he had searched through.

"What else do you do up in here besides read and make pots and stuff?" - Olaf asked

"Mostly just think about stuff…" - The Ice King

"Thats cool, I like to sing" - Olaf

"What about?" - The Ice King asked

"All kinds of stuff! Like, summer… And, uh…. Summer….. You know, stuff like that. What do YOU like to sing about?" - Olaf asked, trying to distract the Ice King from the fact that Olaf didn't sing about much other than summer.

"Me? I don't to sing….." - The Ice King

"What!? You have to sing about SOMETHING though!" - Olaf said, taking offense to the fact that the Ice King didn't sing

"Well for starters I don't know that many songs…." - The Ice King

"You don't have to know a song to sing about something, sometimes you just gotta make it up as you go!" - Olaf

"Improvising also isn't something I'm very good at" - The Ice King.

"I'll help you with that! What do you wanna sing about?" - Olaf

"I don't want to sing." - The Ice King

"Love, interesting choice!" - Olaf

"What? No, I didn't choose love. I don't want to sing about that!" - The Ice King

"You didn't say that you DIDN'T not want to, not, uh, sing, about, not love though!" - Olaf said, tripping over his own words.

"What?" - The Ice King said, confused by Olaf's statement.

"Here, I'll start…. AHEM" Olaf cleared his throat before giving the best opera voice he could muster.

"looooooove is, feeling you heart start to flutter,  
>looooooove is, melting inside like butter,<br>looooooove means, someone is worth melting for,  
>looooooove means, being friends but wanting more, GO" - Olaf said, breaking off and pointing towards the Ice King, expecting him to continue the song<p>

"Olaf I told you I don't like to—"

"LOOOOOOOOOVE is, having your knees go limp and weak  
>LOOOOOOOOOVE is, like a game of hide and seek<br>LOOOOOOOOOVE can, make your throat feel hoarse and dry  
>LOOOOOOOOOVE can, make a grown man start to cry,<br>LOOOOOOOOOVE says, that girl you see is 'hella fine'  
>LOOOOOOOOOVE says, I'd do anything to make her mine, GO" - Olaf said, once again breaking off and pointing towards the Ice King<p>

The Ice King relented and played along.

"loooooove is, suddenly feeling real sweaty  
>loooooove is, wondering what she thinks of me."<p>

"There you go! loooooove can, be an impossible guessing game,  
>loooooove can, make the wildest men be tame" Olaf added before the Ice King continued<p>

"loooooove is, something that can keep you up at night  
>loooooove is, feeling lost then seeing a light" - The Ice King<p>

"loooooove means, staying true even if you fight,  
>loooooove means, saying you're sorry even if you're right." - Olaf<p>

Then they both sang in unison.

"Cause there's nothing like love…  
>There's nothing like love…..<br>Love, is, feeling your heart start to flutter,  
>Love, is, melting inside like butter,<br>Love, means, someone is worth melting for  
>Love, means, being friends but wanting more<br>Cause there's nothing like love, theres nothing like love….

Love, is, having your knees go limp and weak,  
>Love, is, like a game of hide and seek<br>Love, can, make your throat feel hoarse and dry  
>Love, can, make a grown man start to cry,<br>Love, says, that girl you see is 'hella fine'  
>Love, says, I'd do anything to make her mine<br>Cause there's nothing like love, theres nothing like love….

Love, is, suddenly feeling real sweaty  
>Love, is, wondering what she thinks of me.<br>Love, can, be an impossible guessing game,  
>Love, can, make the wildest men be tame<br>Cause there's nothing like love, there's nothing like love….  
>Love, is, something that can keep you up at night<br>Love, is, feeling lost then seeing a light" - The Ice King  
>Love, means, staying true even if you fight,<br>Love, means, saying you're sorry even if you're right.  
>Cause there's nothing like love, there's nothing like love…..<p>

There's no other drug, as, addictive as love  
>There's no other ache, like, the ache from love<br>There's no other feeling, as, sporadic as love  
>Cause there sure isn't anything, quite, like, love" - They finished.<p>

Elsa, who had heard the entire thing while still pretending to be sleeping, was rather amazed at how soft The Ice King's voice could be. It complimented Olaf's loudly obnoxious voice rather well, especially in a duet.

"If you tell anyone that I sing like that, I'll throw you off the mountain" - The Ice King threatened Olaf. But all he did was giggle in response.

"You're just mad that you liked it so much" - Olaf countered with a devilish grin

The Ice King offered half of a smile that Elsa couldn't see. He couldn't hide it from Olaf though. Olaf was right and the Ice King knew it.

"Hey now that everyone else is unconscious. What do you think of Anna, Kristoff, and Elsa?" - Olaf spontaneously asked, much to the Ice King's confusion

"What?" was all he could come up with as a response

"Come on, lets gossip! What do you think of everyone else? I wont tell, I promise!" - Olaf

"I've known you and everyone else in here for less than two days, how do I even know if you can keep a secret?" - The Ice King asked.

"What if I tell you a big secret about every person and then you tell me what you think of them?" - Olaf offered as a trade.

'_Uh oh'_ Elsa thought to herself.

The Ice King mulled it over, the sly face on Olaf's face threw him off. "Alright, deal. IF the secret is good enough, then in exchange i'll give my honest opinion of someone." - The Ice King said. Even he couldn't resist gossiping over people since he almost never had the opportunity to do so.

"Okay, let me think…. Okay, Kristoff….. Only likes to tinkle in the woods" - Olaf

"Eh, you'll have to do better then that." - The Ice King said, not impressed by what Olaf had said.

"Oh come on! ugh, FINE…. Let me think…. OH! yeah, Kristoff told me he was gonna _propose_ to Anna when we all got back to Arendelle!" - Olaf

'_WHAT?!'_ Elsa immediately thought to herself, almost sitting up in shock. She still manage to lay perfectly still on the floor, feigning being asleep.

"Really? I didn't even think that those two were a couple..…" - The Ice King said, more surprised at not knowing that Anna and Kristoff were even a couple then he was at finding out that Kristoff was going to marry Anna.

"Okay now tell me what you think of them!" - Olaf said.

"Kristoff…" - The Ice King started "Comes off as a dunderhead to me. He seems like he can be a nice guy and a good friend and all, but he gets very suspicious very easily, and once he has his mind set on something, he seems like he's not likely to change it…."

Olaf giggled at hearing the Ice King call Kristoff a dunderhead, and Elsa almost did too, but she was still caught up on the news that Kristoff was going to Marry Anna on their return to Arendelle.

"Okay, now what about Anna?" - Olaf eagerly asked.

"Ah, ah, ah. One secret per revelation." - The Ice King replied, wagging a finger at Olaf as he did so.

"Awww. Fine….. hmmmmmm….. Anna…. OOH, Anna told me that she wished she had ice powers like her sister!" - Olaf

Elsa was _very_ surprised at hearing that, but nothing immediately shot into her mind over hearing this revelation, and she instead keenly kept listening.

"Did she say why?" - The Ice King asked. He didn't seem too surprised at the secret, but he was interested nonetheless.

"Well, apparently, Anna still feels a little alienated from her sister since Elsa has ice powers and all, whereas Anna doesnt have any powers whatsoever…. And so sometimes she wishes that she did have ice powers so that she could be closer to her sister." - Olaf clarified.

Elsa almost seemed hurt at hearing that. Elsa saw her powers more as a burden then as a blessing at times, and hearing that Anna would go through the same burden just to feel closer to her tugged hard at the strings in her heart. Elsa then began to feel even more terrible at how preoccupied she had become as Queen and how little time she had been able to spend with Anna. She promised to herself that she would do something to change that when they went back home.

"Your turn!" - Olaf told the Ice King

"Alright fine. Anna is... Feisty. She's nice and she seems pretty fun, certainly more fun than Kristoff and Elsa, but man is she defensive over those she loves. I still get headaches from just thinking about how hard she beat me with that damn frying pan of hers. But when she isn't beating the hell out of me or some other poor sap, she seems like a really fun person to hang with and a really good friend to have." - The Ice King.

"She IS a lot of fun. Way more fun than Kristoff ever is….." - Olaf said, crossing his arms in disappointment as he remembered some of the pranks Kristoff pulled on him in the past.

"Alright, so whats a secret you know about Elsa?" - The Ice King asked.

_'Oh. Crap.'_ Elsa thought to herself. She had no idea what all Olaf knew about her, but whatever he was going to tell the Ice King, it was probably going to be bad.

"Elsa?" - Olaf asked before giving off a very audible chuckle. "Boy do I have a secret for you!"

_'Oh this is gonna be VERY bad'_ Elsa thought to herself, hearing the glee in Olaf's voice. _'Olaf PLEASE don't say anything crazy. Please!' _

_"_Elsa…" - Olaf started "…..Has a hUuUuUge crush on you"

"What?" - The Ice King asked in confusion

'_WHAT!?'_ Elsa thought to herself in disbelief

"Oh yeahhhh, Elsa TOTALLY has it in for you." - Olaf

_'OLAF I WILL LITERALLY KILL YOU' _ Elsa screamed in her mind. The Ice King was a little attractive sure, but she didn't LIKE him, certainly not like that!

"How do you know?" - The Ice King asked Olaf, still in disbelief

"I see it. Elsa looks at you the same way that Anna looks at chocolate. And Anna looooooooooves chocolate." - Olaf

_'OH MY GOD. OLAF. SHUT UP' _- Elsa again screamed in her mind, grimacing at how bad he was embarrassing her right now. The only time Elsa sort of swooned over the Ice King was the first time she saw his face, that was it. She hadn't thought about it a single time since that moment, but Olaf was talking about it as if she were like that all the time.

"Why would Elsa be attracted to me?" - The Ice King asked, still disbelieving the claim that Elsa liked him.

"Beats me. All I know is that if you were to casually kiss her on the cheek or hold her hand, she wouldn't protest" - Olaf said

_'If the Ice King EVER tried to kiss me, i'd punch him in the throat!' _Elsa angrily thought to herself, turning completely red at how embarrassed she was.

What Elsa didn't know is that the Ice King was also turning red, blushing as he finally accepted what Olaf told him. He never was someone's crush before, and this was unfamiliar territory for him

"Okay, your turn! What do you think of Elsa?" - Olaf said, eagerly scooting to the edge of the bed he was laying on in anticipation.

"Well wait, hold on, I still need to process this" - The Ice King said, buying himself some time.

"Oh come on. So she likes you... A lot... A whole, WHOLE lot…. Whats the issue?" - Olaf asked

"Well the issue is I cant feel! I don't have a heart so I cant... You know... Like her back…." - The Ice King admitted.

"Well that's not your fault, so what's wrong?" - Olaf replied

"Olaf, I don't know much about feelings, especially love, but what I _DO_ know is that is devastating when one person really likes someone else, and that person dont like them back." - The Ice King

"But its not your fault that you don't like her back, because you quite literally cant like her back since, you know, no heart…" - Olaf

"But Elsa deserves better then that!….. She deserves better than me." - The Ice King angrily admitted.

A tremendous silence hung in the air after he had said that. The Ice King's mind was wracked with guilt, Olaf felt bad that he had somehow upset the Ice King by telling him a secret, and Elsa was simply confused at hearing the Ice King say he wasn't good enough for her.

The Ice King finally spoke up after no one else said anything for an entire minute.

"Elsa….. Elsa is the closest thing to perfect that I ever could have imagined…. She keeps a cool head about everything, she thinks everything through, she's independent, and she's strong. She certainly doesn't need any man to help her for anything, and she's as pretty as she is strong…. Elsa could have any man she wants, yet she doesnt need one for anything at the same time. And while I may have my qualities and unique powers, she could sure do better than me… I'm not sure if _anyone_ would be good enough for her, but i'm certain that if there_ is_ someone good enough for her, it sure as hell aint me" - The Ice King

Neither Olaf nor Elsa knew what to think about hearing such a personal admission, and from the Ice King too. Elsa had always told herself that she was all the things that the Ice King said she was, but she never really believed herself since she struggled just to believe IN herself. Now though, hearing someone else confirm that she was everything she so desperately wanted to be, it shook her to her core. It was the nicest thing she had ever heard about herself, and it was coming from a complete stranger she had known for two days who didn't even have a heart. Hearing the whole thing was almost desensitizing to Elsa, she had become so overwhelmed by hearing what the Ice King said that she almost had no idea what to make out of it. One emotion did prevail over the flood of others though.

_Happiness. _

Olaf meanwhile had no idea what he had just caused, and he could only offer a few words of consolation to the Ice King. "Dont sell yourself short… I mean, you'd probably be a good catch to someone out there…." was all he could come up with.

The Ice King didn't really buy it though, and he went back to reading the books scattered all over the floor around him in search for a cure to the sleeping powder that Axis had used on Anna and Kristoff. Olaf went back to reading as well, while Elsa laid still and absorbed everything she had heard, feeling liberated at hearing that she was everything that she wanted to be, while questioning how someone without a heart could have said such a kind thing about someone else... About her

* * *

><p>Elsa got up after about 15 minutes, completely recharged compared to before. She sat up and stretched as the Ice King tossed another book off to the side. Olaf had passed out on the bed completely, muttering a couple phrases from the song that he had sung with the Ice King in his sleep.<p>

"Good morning... well technically its the afternoon now" - The Ice King remarked, still unaware that Elsa had overheard his entire duet with Olaf and that she had heard their private exchange as well

She smiled at knowing that he didn't know, and then noticed how tired the Ice King looked. "Did you get any sleep or have you been reading this whole time?" - She asked.

"I drift in and out but overall, yeah, I've been reading this whole time. Haven't found anything useful unfortunately, only that the sleeping powder should last only for a few more hours or so." - The Ice King

"Crap, did we eat all the food in the bag?" - Elsa asked after noticing the empty sack that they had taken from Kristoff.

"Looks like it. We can go get some fish if you want." - The Ice King offered.

"Fish?" - Elsa asked, fish actually sounded _really_ good right now. None of them had had anything other then snacks since the crappy soup they had from King Micheal over a day ago.

"There's a decent sized lake down in the mountains I frequently visit to fish, and there's also a few traps along the way as well. If you really are hungry, we should leave now since the nightly storms will appear in about 2 hours." - The Ice King

Elsa thought it over in her head, but it was the voice in her stomach that spoke the loudest.

"Alright yeah, lets do it." - Elsa said, standing up and beginning to pick up books that littered the floor around them.

"Oh thats fine, we wont have time for that." - The Ice King

"Oh. Okay. Are you sure?" - Elsa asked. She was too much of a neat freak to leave a room so disheveled, but the Ice King reassured her that it was okay, and that they didn't have time to clean up if they wanted to get something to eat. So they left the room as is, with Olaf still sound asleep on the bed.

As they passed through the main living room, Anna and Kristoff still lied motionless on the floor, deep, deep in sleep.

"You can go ahead and use the bathroom, I need to grab a few things before we head out." The Ice King said as they walked into the storage room/kitchen. He flicked his wrist, and the walls in the empty corner of the room once again parted to reveal the hallway that bore into the mountain.

Elsa went to relieve herself, while The Ice King began to rummage through his collection of things. Axis then made his way into the room.

"Master, are you sure you should be doing this? She may try to eliminate you or something!" - Axis

"Don't worry Axis, I trust her. Just stay here and keep an eye on things until I get back. Stay out of sight this time though, I don't want to be greeted with a frying pan to the face when I get back." The Ice King said, finding the smooth rock he was looking for and sticking it into one of his pockets. He then closed up the cabinets and made his way towards the opening into the hallway, where he patiently waited for Elsa to finish in the bathroom.

She emerged from the bathroom after a few minutes. The bathroom itself wasn't very luxurious, but it was certainly comfortable enough to relieve herself. She closed the door behind her and casually walked towards the other end of the hallway, where the Ice King was waiting. He tossed the rock around in his hands like a tennis ball.

She looked deep down into the tunnel that bore into the mountain, and it was pitch black. Normally she would have felt fear well up inside her head and feel the ice creep towards her fingertips, but she was remarkably calm right now, despite the fact that it was the Winter Solstice.

"How are we going to even see where we step?" - Elsa asked

The Ice King held up the rock he had in his hand. "Watch this". He then iced over the rock with his powers, and smashed it against the side of the wall along one side of the tunnel. From it, rock, a spectacular gleam of Ice spread out along the wall and shot down the tunnel, illuminating the entire path with a white-blue hue.

Elsa was awestruck. "How did you do that?" - She asked him, bewildered. The Ice King handed her the rock without saying a word. She carefully turned it over in her hand. It felt unnaturally cold, much colder then any other rock that Anna had handed her in the past. It certain had a magical quality about it. "Weird….." was all she managed to say

"I have no idea how it works, but it simply does. Shall we?" - The Ice King said, gesturing his arm towards the now well lit tunnel below them. The Ice King then began to walk down the tunnel, and Elsa soon followed him. The floor was steep, steep enough where you had to watch how fast you descended otherwise you would soon be jogging, but it was flat enough for one to still walk comfortably down the passageway without tripping on anything, even if it was their first time.

Elsa marveled at the streaks of glowing ice the Ice King had produced that crisscrossed all over the walls and ceiling of the tunnel as she walked through them. She stared at the streaks of glowing ice around her the same way a young child might stare at fish in a giant aquarium. The Ice King meanwhile was focused entirely on Elsa, as he found it a little entertaining to see Elsa so wowed at the patterns of almost alien ice all around her. As he casually watched Elsa, he pondered in his head what Olaf had said about Elsa and her alleged feelings towards him. Had he been able to feel, he would have felt overwhelmed at how romantic the situation was.


	18. Chapter 18: There Will Be Blood

The exit of the tunnel that bore through the mountain was a person sized hole about 5 feet tall and about 2 feet wide. The winter wonderland outside of the tunnel was no wonderland though, the forever grey sky that hung overhead sucked any joy out of viewing such a landscape, while the hundreds of dead trees all around only added to the despair of the environment. The entire landscape looked dead, so dead that it was spooky, but as Elsa and the Ice King emerged from the exit and made their way towards the lake the Ice King fished from, neither of them felt even a hint of fear at what may lay deep in the forest. Elsa had wondered how and why she was in such control of her powers on the Winter Solstice when last year she had no control whatsoever. Even when she was enraged at Olaf for telling the Ice King the lie that she was head over heels in love with him, she never once felt the ice in her veins well near her fingertips. Even the thoughts of why it was happening didn't bother her for long, they would slip out of her mind as soon as they popped up.

Within a few minutes of hiking, the Ice King and Elsa made it into a large clearing in the forest that led to the lake, which was just as depressing as anything else around them. The lake reflected the dull grey hue of the sky so much that the lake itself looked sick. The lake laid perfectly still under the grey sky, as if it were waiting to be lowered into its own grave, just reflecting the dullness of the sky overhead.

"Are you sure that there's fish in there? This lake looks like its dead…." - Elsa asked, doubtful that any fish could live in such a lake

"Oh they're in there, you just gotta know how to get to them." - The Ice King said, walking up to the very edge before kneeling down. He waved his hand over the snow beneath him and it began to scatter in all directions, doing this several times as he searched for what he was looking for. After getting up and searching other nearby spots for a few minutes, the Ice King finally found what he was looking for, a rope made of twine that led from the shore down into the lake itself. The Ice King then grabbed the rope in his hands and started to pull at it. The rope soon led directly into the water, and ripples marched across the lake in slow motion where the rope emerged out of the surface of the lake.

"What are you doing?" - Elsa

"The people of houkkaville aren't the only stupid things that live here, the fish in this lake are just as brainless." - The Ice King panted as he continued to haul in the rope. "I made a fish trap a while ago that uses a single piece of bait that can catch any fish stupid enough to go after it."

The end of the rope the Ice King was hauling in was tied to a box made of twigs and sticks, though really it was two boxes in one. One tiny half of the box contained a single shiny coin, and the other, much larger part of the trap contained about 10 to 12 fish, some of which were still flopping around. The entrance of the box was designed in such a way that fish could enter the box to go after the shiny object, but then the entrance would close behind them without any way to get it open from inside the box.

"The fish see the shiny, they go for the shiny, then they get trapped inside with the shiny" - The Ice King said as he set the trap on the snow near the lake and opened its hatch. He then stuck his hand through the hatch and began grabbing the fish that were still writhing around, tossing a few back into the lake.

"Wait, why are you releasing some of them?" - Elsa asked

"They're not big enough. The little ones still moving around will grow much bigger in a few more weeks, so its better to toss them back and let them get a little fatter then to eat them right now. Its just better to wait" - The Ice King

"And the small ones that aren't moving around?" - Elsa

"Those ones are already dead, but since they're too small to eat, they are better for use as bait for traps here on land." - The Ice King said, tossing a third fish back into the lake before picking the box up in his arms. Two of the wriggling bigger fish though began to thrash in such ferocity at seeing others being set free that the hatch broke open and the fish poured out of the crate all over the Ice King before falling on the ground.

"Ah Dammit…." - The Ice King muttered, now drenched almost head to toe from the slime of the fish. He bent down to set the fish back into the box, and Elsa, fighting off a laugh, bent down to help him too. She picked up a fish and put it into the box, and had just picked up a second one before the Ice King warned her.

"Elsa hold on." - The Ice King said in a hushed tone

"What?" - Elsa

"Don't move." - The Ice King

"It's just a fish, I think I'll be able to handle it…" - Elsa said, putting the fish into the box.

"No not that…. There are 3 enormous bears directly behind you that are staring right at us." - The Ice King

Elsa whipped around behind her and her eyes widened in horror. The Ice King wasn't kidding, about 60 feet away emerging from the thicket of the forest, 3 gigantic brown bears had followed their nose to discover the Ice King and Elsa hauling in their catch of 12 fresh fish.

Elsa felt the ice in her veins shift for the first time the entire day. She had never even seen a bear before, let alone 3 of them all at once, gigantic ones as well, and out in the wild….

"Oh my god, oh my god, what do we do?" - Elsa panicked, keeping her voice down as the bears began to trudge throw the snow towards them.

"Its alright, this has happened to me before….. They only smell the fish. Just get up very slowly, and back away from the fish and they'll let us leave. They don't want to hurt us" - The Ice King said, slowly getting up onto his feet and extending a hand out to Elsa. She didn't see it though, her eyes were still transfixed on the 3 furry killing machines coming closer and closer to them. She quickly got to her feet and got behind the Ice King, and they both began to backtrack away from the bears, leaving the fish behind them.

The bears were soon on top of the fish, one of them stopped to tear open the box and get the fish inside, but two of the other bears walked right past the fish, eyes fixed on Elsa and the Ice King.

"Why are they still coming our way?!" Elsa whispered to the Ice King in fear.

"Beats the hell out of me, they usually just go after the fish!" - The Ice King said.

Two of the bears closed in on the Ice King and Elsa, one of which began to flash its teeth at them in a clear sign of aggression. Elsa, hiding behind the Ice King for protection, was close enough to him to smell the stench of the fish on him from when they spilled out of the box all over him.

"Oh my god, you smell like fish!" - Elsa whispered to the Ice King in horror as she realized why two of the bears were targeting them.

"What?" - The Ice King

"When you spilled the fish all over yourself, they got their smell on you, you smell like a gigantic fish!" - Elsa

"Oh sh**" - The Ice King gasped, realizing the true depth of the problem they were in. The bears, now only about 20 feet away, came to a stop and both of them flashed their teeth. One of them stood up on their hind legs and gave half of a roar at Elsa and the Ice King.

"What do we do?" - Elsa

"Well, seeing as how _I_ smell like fish and you _don't_, I think it would be best if you get the hell out of here like, right now, while I come up with something." - The Ice King said, the bear on its hind legs going back down to all fours and resuming its march towards the Ice King and Elsa.

Elsa looked back into the woods from where they came from, wondering if she even remembered how to get back to the tunnel in the mountain.

"I can't leave here" - Elsa said after scanning through the woods.

"Sure you can, its just two of them, its nothing I can't handle" - The Ice King

"No, I cant leave because there are wolves behind us!" - Elsa said as several grey wolves began to emerge out of the thicket behind them.

The Ice King glanced behind him. Sure enough, the pack of wolves were directly positioned on the path that led right back towards the tunnel entrance.

"Ah, yes I can see why that would be a bit of a problem" - The Ice King said after confirming that their exit route was now cut off

One of the bears let off a ferocious roar, shaking every bone in the Ice King and Elsa's body. The wolves in response began to flash their teeth and growl back. While they didn't have the strength of the bear, they certainly had strength in numbers.

"Well now what?" Elsa asked, feeling the ice pool in her fingertips for the first time in forever.

"Looks like we're going to have to fight our way out of this one" - The Ice King said, getting into an attack stance towards the bears, who were now only about 20 feet away. The third bear meanwhile, who noticed the wolves emerge from the woodwork, began to join his fellow bears in the fight that was about to go down.

"How can we fight them, there's like a dozen of them!" - Elsa said, facing the wolves and putting her back against the Ice King who was facing the bears

"We have each other, that is our advantage, now show me your war face!" - The Ice King said with authority through gritted teeth.

"My _what_ face?" - Elsa asked

"Your war face! Get angry at them!" - The Ice King said as the blue hue around his hands emerged. "Its the Winter Solstice, this is when we are at our most powerful, we can easily win this" He added

Elsa though believed otherwise. She didn't feel grit or anger coursing through her veins, it was fear. Fear at being torn to pieces by a 6 angry wolves or being mauled to death by 3 angry bears. The wolves and the bears all had positioned themselves in a circle around Elsa and the Ice King, each faction ready to claim the meal in question for themselves, and Elsa had never tried to get angry to win a fight before, she only ever played defense.

The bears lunged first.

"Heads up!" - The Ice King yelled as he waved his arms up into the air at an angle. A wall of ice materialized out of the ground and knocked the bear onto its side. He did the same with another bear that also charged their way, while the third bear went after one of the wolves.

The wolves meanwhile launched a blitzkrieg at Elsa and the Ice King, and Elsa froze up. She could only raise her arms up to her head and brace herself, but in doing so she actually summoned a wall of ice around her and the Ice King, which several of the wolves crashed into.

Elsa creaked one eye open and was shocked to be staring at a panicked reflection of herself in the wall of ice she had accidentally summoned.

"There ya go!" - The Ice King called out, shooting a blast of ice at one of the bears he had knocked over as it got up to its feet. He thought that Elsa had purposefully created the ice wall, whereas Elsa knew that it was purely an accident. She was encouraged by her move nonetheless, she now knew she could just as easily hold her own as the Ice King. Even though she may not be good at attacking or being aggressive, she was unbeatable when it came to playing defensively.

The Ice King left Elsa's side and advanced towards the bears, throwing blasts of ice at them left and right. While one bear was preoccupied with two wolves and while another was still getting on its feet, the third bear received a flurry of blasts to the head from the Ice King who was landing successive, powerful blows on it.

The wolves meanwhile maneuvered around Elsa's ice wall, 2 on each end of it. Elsa switched back and forth between the two, waiting to see which side would attack first.

It came from the left.

One wolf leapt at Elsa, and Elsa instinctively raised her left forearm up to her head. The wolf was flung over her head as an ice wall emerged from the ground when the wolf was in mid flight, launching it right over Elsa and the Ice King, who had fired a powerful, double fisted blast of ice towards the wolves on the other side of Elsa's ice wall, knocking both of them back out of sight behind the wall. Elsa's confidence in herself grew, and she began to fire off occasional attacks while still playing defensively. The bear fighting the wolves had managed to kill one and cause another to run off, while the Ice King had harassed one of the other bears enough to make it surrender and retreat off into the woods.

There were now 4 wolves instead of 6, and 2 bears instead of 3, while Elsa and the Ice King didn't have a single scratch on them.

That didn't last long though.

One of the wolves leapt out from behind the wall towards the back of the Ice King, who never even saw it coming. Elsa caught a glimpse of it, but the wolf was moving far too fast for her to react, and the wolf was soon on top of the Ice King. Luckily, he had crouched just before the wolf got him, so the wolf only managed to get a mouthful of his shirt while trying to go for his neck. The wolf fell over the top of the Ice King, but it still clenched the shirt in its mouth, dragging it over the Ice King's head and blinding him. He tried to free his shirt but he couldn't see where the wolf was and he began firing off ice blasts randomly in every direction, hitting nothing. The wolf tugged at his shirt and began to pull him across the clearing, while the wolf that Elsa had flung over both of their heads had gotten back to its feet and leapt on the Ice King as well. Just like that, he had two wolves attacking him, with a bear and a third wolf close by, while Elsa was now on the other side of the clearing with her own problems to deal with.

Elsa's confidence waned, and she almost didn't see the bear behind her who had just finished off two wolves from preparing to charge. She collected herself, watching the bear out of the corner of her eye, and anticipated its charge. Sure enough, it lumbered towards Elsa, but this time Elsa countered with her own attack, flinging her hands outwards and raising several spikes out of the ground under the bear.

The bear roared in pain and soon collapsed under its own weight onto the spikes. Elsa looked away from the sight, sparing herself from the pain she had just caused it, and instead focused on the Ice King, who was now being attacked by two wolves. Meanwhile the last remaining bear in the fight roared at the third wolf standing in the bears way. Elsa targeted one of the wolves biting the Ice King with a blast of ice, but the last remaining wolf leapt out from behind the ice wall and bit down hard onto her left arm. The wolf tackled her to the ground and clenched down hard, causing Elsa to scream out in pain. She frantically tried to free her arm by shooting a flurry of blasts at the wolf, but the wolf hung on for dear life, sinking its teeth deeper into Elsa's forearm as she tried to free herfself.

The Ice King slipped out of his shirt, giving up on trying to keep it on, and quickly got one of the wolves attacking him to stop by sending a blast of snow right into its eye. He quickly got to his feet and double punched the wolf almost completely back into the woods with a fierce blast, breaking its spirit before it retreated. The other wolf dropped its shirt from its mouth and leapt at the Ice King, but the Ice King used his feet to summon a tremendous blast of ice, flinging the wolf 40 feet into the air and out into the middle of the lake, where it hit with a tremendous splash. The third wolf facing off against the bear didn't realize the Ice King had gotten up, and so it lunged at the bear instead, the bear quickly began tearing it apart.

There was now only one bear and one wolf left, but the Ice King had taken an incredible beating and Elsa was still being viciously attacked by the last remaining wolf.

Still screaming frantically as she tried to unsuccessfully free her arm, the Ice King quickly fired a powerful blast at the wolf, flinging it away from Elsa and freeing her arm in the process. She immediately gripped her arm and pressed it into the snow, the freezing cold numbing the crippling pain in her arm. The Ice King fired off another blast towards the wolf, hitting it right in its mouth before it also retreated off into the woods.

The bear however saw the chance to attack the Ice King and took it. Thundering through the snow and plowing into the Ice King before he could react. The bear roared and began slashing the Ice King with one of its claws while the other one held him down. The Ice King was unable to fire a blast in defense since he was pinned on his stomach, and he could only cry out in pain with each crushing blow from the bear.

Elsa, still doubled over in pain, heard the Ice King crying out in pain and looked up to see him getting mercilessly mauled. Before even thinking about it, Elsa had used her remaining good arm to fire a couple blasts of ice at the bear, firing off 5 blasts with 2 of them hitting their mark.

The bear, after several more swipes at the Ice King, looked up in anger at Elsa after she landed a second hit. The Ice King had stopped struggling and laid under its paw motionless as the bear paused its attack. Elsa fired another shot and landed another blast on the bear, causing it to grit its teeth in anger and start making its way towards Elsa, leaving the Ice King behind.

Elsa got up onto her knees and fired more powerful blasts at the bear, only one of two hitting it. That only angered the bear even further though, and as she fired one more blast and hit it right in its nose, the bear charged at her.

30 feet away, Elsa fired another blast. It missed.

20 feet away, Elsa fired again, hitting the bear harmlessly in the shoulder and failing to slow it down.

The bear was only 10 feet away when Elsa realized what she would have to do, and she crouched down into the snow as much as possible since she knew she was only going to have one shot.

The bear leapt, and Elsa stuck out her hand, a large, thin, spike of ice emerging out of the ground in front of her. There was a cracking sound, and the bear fell onto its side. Elsa had hit her mark.

The spike of her single shot of ice got the bear right in the throat before breaking off as the bear's momentum carried it onto its side next to Elsa. It groaned in deep pain for a few seconds before it too finally stopped moving.

The battle was finally over. Four of the six wolves had been killed while the other two had fled into the forest, bears killing three of them while the Ice King killed one and scared off the two others. Two of the three bears had also been killed, both kills came from Elsa while the third retreated into the forest after being overwhelmed by attacks from the Ice King. In terms of kills Elsa was the clear winner, killing two of the bears while the Ice King only killed off one wolf, and in overall health Elsa was also the clear winner, only suffering from a hurt arm while the Ice King had been mauled all over by a wolf and then by a bear.

The Ice King still laid motionless near the lake. Elsa got to her feet and quickly made her way over to the Ice King while nursing her hurt arm, which was still surging with pain. While the bite marks on her arm made her squeamish, the wounds on the Ice King almost made her throw up. He had several deep gashes all over his back from where the bear got him, along with several smaller rips all over the rest of him from where the wolf got him.

Elsa struggled to flip him over onto his back. Even though he looked pretty skinny and lightly built he was heavier than he looked. She brushed the snow off of his face and noticed that he was unconscious, but more concerning to her was the fact that he wasn't breathing.

Elsa's eyes widened in fear, the Ice King was slipping away right in front of her, and she had no idea how to get back into the castle without him. The ice in her veins flowed through her arms in fear, but it actually helped in numbing the pain in her left arm and giving her one less thing to worry about. She then clenched her eyes shut and tried to remember what to do when someone stopped breathing. A long time ago her parents had hired a tutor to help her become educated in the comfort of her own room, and Elsa had asked that she be tutored as much as possible so that she wouldn't have time to be tempted into experimenting with her powers. One of the things she learned about was human health, and she wracked her brains trying to remember what a person was supposed to to when someone had stopped breathing.

Then she remembered. If someone stops breathing, the first thing you were supposed to do was apply pressure to the heart to try to get it to beat again, but only after you're sure the heart isn't beating in the first place.

_Well that wouldn't help, the Ice King didn't even have a heart in the first place!_

Elsa tried to remember what else you're supposed to do if someone stops breathing. She was only half paying attention to the lecture, but she did remember that the other thing you were to do was to blow air into the person's lungs through their mouth to try to restart the breathing process.

Elsa hesitated at the thought of putting her lips on the Ice King's. She still remembered the promise she made to herself that if the Ice King ever tried such a thing on her that she would punch him in his throat. But this time was different. He was _dying,_ and this was, unfortunately, the only way to save him.

"Crap…." - Elsa said to herself out loud as she accepted what she would have to do. She opened the Ice King's mouth, pinched his nose shut, and blew air as quickly as she could into his mouth threw hers. The whole process felt so alien to her that she almost came close to throwing up. She wiped her mouth clean with her sleeve and looked down at the Ice King.

He still wasn't breathing.

"Come on…." - Elsa said in frustration before clenching her eyes shut and repeating the process. The only feeling worse than giving someone mouth-to-mouth was the idea of being alone in the woods with no idea of how to get back into the ice castle, so Elsa again fought back her urge to throw up and did what had to be done.

It still didn't work though, the Ice King wasn't breathing and laid motionless on the now blood-stained snow. Elsa grew increasingly frustrated and felt even more helpless over the lack of success she was having, and she blew into the Ice King's mouth a third time harder than she had before. After wiping her mouth on her sleeve for the third time, the Ice King still wasn't breathing.

_Time for desperate measures_

Elsa remembered something that Kristoff told her a while ago, where he said that if she ever had to defend herself against a guy and she couldn't use her ice powers, the best thing to do is punch them as hard as possible in the stomach or the nuts. Elsa didn't know why she remembered it, or if it might help her in this situation, but she was now out of options.

So she punched the Ice King in the gut _as hard as humanly possible. _

The Ice King lurched and immediately started to cough, wrapping his arms around his stomach before gasping for air.

"YES!" Elsa triumphantly raised her arms at her success. Why on Earth that had worked she would never know, but it worked, and thats all that mattered right then and there.

The Ice King was overwhelmed with pain, the impact in his stomach and the wounds on his back combined with his struggle to even breathe was crippling to him, but Elsa stayed right there and got him to calm down as he recollected himself.

After several seconds of coughing, gasping, and writhing around, the Ice King finally calmed down and cracked his eyes open, looking up and seeing none other than Elsa's glee-stricken face staring right back at him.

"You're alive! You're alive! Thank God you're alive!" - Elsa said, hugging the Ice King while he still laid on the ground as he tried to remember what the hell had happened.

"D-Did you punch me in the stomach?" - The Ice King finally asked.

Elsa, laughing and crying tears of joy at the same time, sheepishly nodded as she wiped one of the tears out of her eyes. The Ice King then tried to sit up, but cried out in pain after searing pain shot through his back from the wounds being stretched.

"Whoa, whoa, you need to stay still" - Elsa said, putting her good hand on the Ice King's shoulder to keep him lying down. His bare skin was much warmer than it was just seconds ago when he wasn't breathing, and the warmth that Elsa felt surprised her. The Ice King also felt the warmth of Elsa's hand on him, but he was more concerned about other matters.

"Elsa we gotta get to the castle as soon as—" - He started

"You need to stay still, you got hurt really badly from that attack and you're still bleeding." - Elsa

"Elsa listen, there are far worse things in these mountains than just wolves and bears, things that are attracted by the smell of blood instead of fish… If they smell blood, they'll come from miles away to find it, so we need to get back to the castle." - The Ice King clarified, sitting up and fighting through the crippling pain in his back. Elsa wanted to help him, but she didn't know what all she could do with her one good arm.

The Ice king then noticed the bite marks on her arm. "Oh no, are you hurt?"

"No... Well, sorta... Kinda... I'll be fine" - Elsa

"Well if you say so. I'll show you a healing trick that'll help fix that when we get someplace safe, preferably inside the tunnel leading up to my castle." - The Ice King said, scanning over Elsa's arm. Although her sleeve was torn to shreds, only one part of her arm was seriously wounded. She was extremely fortunate that she didn't get hurt worse than she did.

The Ice King slowly got to his feet and painfully limped back towards the entrance to the tunnel, with Elsa carefully keeping an eye out for any other animals nearby, leaving behind the bloodbath of bears and wolves behind them.


	19. Chapter 19: The Color Purple

"So how do you wish to proceed?" - Wizard

"Assuming that this combination of a rock minion spell and this fire spell works—" - King Micheal

"I assure you it will work" - Wizard

"Then it would be best to summon them the first thing tomorrow morning so that then we can wage the battle as soon as possible." - King Micheal

"I assume you will attack when you go to give the Ice King your answer to his proposal then?" - Wizard

"That is correct" - King Micheal

"I'm still confused over why he is waiting until tomorrow for your reply when the Winter Solstice ends tonight… Wouldn't he need the Winter Solstice in order to absorb Queen Elsa's ice powers?…." - Wizard

"Apparently not" - King Micheal

"I still think something is up. It doesn't make sense for the Ice King to wait until the day after the Winter Solstice to harvest Elsa's ice powers unless i'm missing something…." - Wizard

"It doesn't make sense to me either, but his terms were clear, go back tomorrow and surrender, and if we refuse he will harvest Queen Elsa's powers and kill us all anyways" - King Micheal

"Assuming he somehow hasn't done so already, and also assuming that Queen Elsa is still alive to begin with" - Wizard

King Micheal sighed. "Attacking him is our only option, that is the only thing that is clear to me"

"That appears to be the case…. Well then, tomorrow morning I will have your fire-slinging rock minions ready for you. I'll use up the rest of the night to carefully prepare and carry out the spells necessary for the siege" - Wizard

"Sounds good" - King Micheal

King Micheal then walked out the door, while the Wizard still thought about the discrepancy in the Ice King's demands. Something about it simply didn't sit right with him, and he knew something was up... He simply couldn't figure out what though.

* * *

><p>Elsa and the Ice King, after going back to collect his shirt and some of the fish they left behind at the lake, made it to the entrance to the tunnel without further incident. Upon entering the tunnel the Ice King pulled out the stone and once again bashed it against the side of the tunnel, causing streaks of illuminating ice to light up the tunnel as it had before. They began to hike up the long tunnel back to the castle, but it quickly became apparent that the Ice King didn't have the strength to do so, falling to his knees several times as he tried to trudge his way up through the tunnel.<p>

"Alright, we need to stop" - Elsa said after the Ice King fell down for a fourth time. She laid a hand on the Ice King's shoulder where there wasn't a gash to get him to stay down, once again feeling the unusual warmth where her hand touched his skin. The Ice King relented, and lied down on his side on the floor while grimacing in pain, his breathing becoming very labored.

"The sooner w-we get back to the castle….. The sooner I can try to fix myself up." - The Ice King panted

"You said something before about a healing trick you were going to show me?" - Elsa asked

He nodded. "Well its more of a pain-killing trick than a healing one, but its basically the same thing" - The Ice King said through gritted teeth.

"Well you're in way too much pain to be able to make it all the way back up the tunnel, you should definitely use it on yourself if you can." - Elsa

"I can't use it on myself though, thats the problem.… The trick requires pure concentration to be able to pull it off, but if i so much as try to stretch my arms to reach my back, the pain completely overwhelms me and breaks my focus." - The Ice King said, clenching his eyes shut as another wave of pain surged through him.

"Then show me the trick and then I can use it on you." - Elsa offered, flinching at how much pain the Ice King suddenly was in.

The Ice King cracked his eyes open at Elsa's offer. He was hesitant about revealing secrets about anything to anyone, but he could see that she was worried and was genuinely concerned for him, plus the pain he was feeling was quickly becoming intolerable.

"Alright….. Okay here's how it works..… You know how the ice in your veins sometimes pools in your fingertips?" - The Ice King

Elsa nodded. "It happens to me all the time on accident whenever I get nervous or scared."

"Well to use this trick, you need to make the ice pool in your hands completely through your own desire and will, you need to focus on channeling your powers into your hands." - The Ice King.

"Oh, okay….. Now how exactly do I do that?" - Elsa asked as she examined her own hands. She had never tried to intentionally pool ice in her hands and fingers before, in fact she hated the feeling of it because it always happened before she came close to having an accident.

"It's not that hard to do. Just close your eyes and think of what the coldest feeling you've ever felt is. Focus entirely on how cold it was and tune out everything else. Here, watch" - The Ice King said, raising up one of his arms. He then closed his eyes and thought back to when he first was forced up into the mountains by King Micheal, remembering how cold the winds were and how cold he felt after having his heart removed. Plunged deep into the memory, a bluish hue consumed the Ice King's hands, similar to both of the times the blue aurora appeared around them when he had frozen Elsa's arms.

"Okay, then what do I do after that?" - Elsa asked.

"Then you just hold your hands over the wound and thats it. Here, let me see your arm that is hurt." - The Ice King said, motioning for Elsa's left arm

Elsa, still nursing her arm that was now throbbing, hesitantly outstretched her arm for the Ice King to place his hand on. He gently lowered his hand onto the nastiest part of the wound, and a tremendous stinging sensation that felt like lightning shot right through her arm.

"OW" Elsa yelped, snatching her arm away from the Ice King.

"Yeah It'll hurt like hell for a second, but thats all it takes. Count to 10 or so, then look at the wound and see what happens." - The Ice King said, as he opened his eyes and the blue hue around his hands faded.

Elsa began to count to 10, but she didn't even hit 4 when she began to see and feel the effects. The places where her skin had been punctured began to become numb, while the wounds themselves slowly transitioned from their dark-red state to a bright blue one. The throbbing from where the wolf's teeth had clenched down onto her arm faded immediately, and was replaced by a very soft cooling feeling. It felt as if the wounds themselves had been transformed into tiny blocks of ice, providing a cooling numbness to the precise area's that were once the sources of pain. By the time Elsa had counted to 10, her arm still felt sore and roughed up, but the pain had almost subsided completely.

"That's amazing" - Elsa whispered in astonishment as she examined her wounds through her torn sleeve. The wounds that the Ice King had placed his hand on felt enormously better, and while some of the wounds were not touched and still throbbed in pain, Elsa overall felt much better and stronger in her arm than she had just 10 seconds earlier.

"Okay, not its your turn. Whats the coldest memory you have?" - The Ice King asked.

Elsa knew immediately, but didn't say out loud. Her coldest moment by far was when Prince Hans had told her that she had allegedly killed her sister, but it was far too personal for her to tell that to the Ice King, so she improvised.

"One time, when I was a kid, I accidentally locked myself outside during a winter storm for several hours" - Elsa lied.

"Okay, now just focus on how cold it felt, really focus on it and clear out everything else from that memory" - The Ice King

Elsa closed her eyes and flashed back to the actual memory. The winter storm was whipping around everywhere, her knees hurt when she fell down onto them on the cold, unforgiving ice, and she also rested a hand on the ice as well when she was told she had killed Anna. Elsa also remembered the crippling sadness, angst, and anger at herself she felt in the moment, but she focused entirely on the cold. The ice in her veins quickly pooled into both of her hands, but she stayed focused on remembering the cold in the memory. The ice quickly filled up her fingers, hands, and wrists, and she could feel the backlog of it make her way up her arms.

"What the hell?" - The Ice King said, breaking Elsa's concentration.

She opened her eyes and looked at her hands in shock. While the Ice King's hands developed an icy light-blue aurora around them when he focused his powers, Elsa's glow was a deep, royal purple, a purple so rich in color that it was almost frightening. Elsa reactively shook her hands to get it off of her, and the purple aurora quickly faded away while the ice in her veins receded back out of her hands.

"It… It's not supposed to do that?" - Elsa asked the Ice King, but he was just as baffled as Elsa was. He almost couldn't even believe what he had seen, and neither could Elsa.

"Uh… Try it again and see what happens" - The Ice King said, thinking maybe the first attempt was some sort of fluke.

Elsa closed her eyes and once again immersed herself into the memory, focusing on how cold everything felt at the time while making sure to not focus on how she was feeling. Once again, the ice pooled into her fingers, then her hands, then filled up past her wrists. While keeping her concentration, she cracked one eye open to see what was happening. Once again, a royal purple aurora surrounded the space around her hands, this time even more purple then the last time.

"You know what, thats probably good enough" - The Ice King said as he rolled off of his side and onto his stomach. "Purple is close enough to blue where it will have the same effect, so let it rip"

Elsa looked up from her hands at the Ice King, unsure of what he was proposing. "You want me to try to heal you with, with this?" She asked

"It's as good of a shot we're going to get." - The Ice King

"I dunno, this doesn't seem like its gonna work…. This doesn't seem safe" - Elsa said, struggling to keep her focus while at the same time wondering if the trick itself was going to work at all.

"Whatever happens, happens." - The Ice King said, reassuring his faith in Elsa. Elsa hesitantly made her way over towards the Ice King and carefully lifted up his shirt while he was face down on the floor.

Elsa gasped, and the aurora around her hands quickly vanished. She hadn't had a good look at the Ice King's wounds under good light until now, and it was _bad_. Cuts and scratches crisscrossed all over the Ice King's back, some of them were almost up to an inch deep while others still bled. There wasn't a single patch of skin on his back that had been spared by the mauling from the wolf and the bear, and the Ice King's legs and arms were in equally poor shape.

"I cant. Im sorry, I cant do this" - Elsa said, pulling the Ice King's shirt over his back. She wasn't squeamish, but there were very few people in the entire world who could stare at such horrible wounds without freaking out. The thought of putting her hand anywhere near them also was very discomforting to her.

"Its the sight of the wounds isn't it?" The Ice King correctly guessed. Elsa nodded and tried to recollect herself, the image of the Ice King's disfigured back seared into her memory. "If you want, you can try to heal it without lifting up my shirt" He offered.

Elsa paused. "Would that work? Could I still heal you even if you leave your shirt down?" - Elsa asked, a tad hopeful at the prospect of the existence of an alternative path.

"I don't know, Ive never tried it myself… It's worth a shot I suppose." - The Ice King said doubtfully, he didn't even believe in what he was saying. Then he had a thought. "You would have to press down harder in order for the magic to go through the clothes". The Ice King figured that if Elsa pressed down hard enough, the magic would go deeper, hopefully enough to go through the clothes he was wearing.

On the other hand it could also accidentally fuse the Ice King's clothes deep into his own scars, an idea that he wasn't very comfortable with at all. Elsa meanwhile had her own concerns over the idea.

"Wouldn't pressing down harder on your back only cause it to hurt more? You know, in addition to the stoning?" - She asked.

"It'll probably hurt like hell, but that was going to happen either way" - The Ice King

Elsa looked back at her hands. It seemed like the better alternative than directly putting her hands on the Ice King's back, and her confidence both in herself and in the idea suddenly surged. "Okay, lets do it"

Elsa closed her eyes again and flashed back to the memory. Her hands quickly filled with ice and the purple hue appeared around them once again. Before she could hesitate or lose her nerve, Elsa pressed her hands down hard onto the Ice King's back.

Thats when Elsa blacked out.

* * *

><p>Her head was spinning as if she were falling from the sky, and her vision was blurry to a maddening degree. Everything around her was moving so fast that she couldn't make out anything, she could barely even remember who she was. Things only gradually slowed down. Her nerves began to reboot, and she got feeling back into her arms and legs as she started to regain movement in them. The world was now only slightly spinning, and Elsa eventually began to make out her surroundings as everything came into focus.<p>

"Elsa? Elsa? Are you alright?" - The Ice King said, kneeling down next to her. She only heard an echo though, and the Ice King had to call out her name several more times before he could get a response from Elsa.

"Wh-…. What happened?" - Elsa finally asked, rubbing her eyes as her head throbbed.

"Oh thank god you're okay!" - The Ice King sighed in relief, relaxing a little.

Elsa finally got her vision back. She was propped in a sitting position up against the wall in the hallway while the Ice King squatted almost directly in front of her. Everything was almost exactly as it was from what she last remembered, except now the Ice King didn't even have a shirt on. Instead, what was left of his shirt lied in scraps and shreds on the floor.

"You've been out for a few minutes now, take it nice and slow" - The Ice King cautioned, as the headache in Elsa's head escalated.

"What happened?" Elsa asked again after regaining all motor control. "Did it work?"

"No…. Well actually, sort of…. In a ways, yes and no" - The Ice King

"What happened?" - Elsa asked a third time

"I'm not sure why, but for some reason the second you touched my shirt, you suddenly flew backwards and hit the wall behind you. Are you okay?" - The Ice King asked, more concerned for Elsa's well being than his own.

"So it didn't work then?" - Elsa

"Sort of. It feels like you fixed a good chunk of it and I feel a lot better than before, but you took a really nasty hit there" - The Ice King

"What happened to your shirt?" - Elsa asked, finally noticing that the Ice King was now shirtless. She stared at his exposed chest, which was covered with the scars of long healed cuts and gashes of past battles he had fought through.

"I was hoping you could tell me" - The Ice King said, breaking her focus on his chest.

"Tell you what?" - Elsa asked, confused and a tad embarrassed at being so transfixed over the Ice King's chest that she forgot the original question.

"My shirt…. It tore to shreds the second you put your hands down on it and I was hoping maybe you would know why it did that, cause I sure don't." - The Ice King said as he carefully helped Elsa up to her feet. Elsa's headache erupted as she got to her feet, but she fought through the pain and collected herself.

"Lets…. Lets NOT do that again….." - Elsa said

"Agreed….. Thank you though for helping me." - The Ice King said.

"You're wel—" - Elsa began, but she was interrupted as the Ice King gave her a casual hug. It only lasted a few seconds, but Elsa was quickly overwhelmed by a flood of emotions as it happened. She had never been hugged by a guy before, certainly not by one as good-looking as the Ice King, and DEFINITELY not by a good-looking guy when he was _shirtless_. What was most overwhelming though was the warmth she felt from the Ice King, which engulfed her entire torso as he hugged her. Before she had only felt the curious warmth through her hands or when the Ice King put one of his hands on her, but now the warmth was everywhere…

…. And it felt _amazing_

The Ice King pulled out of the hug as seamlessly as he had entered into it, and Elsa was left standing there awkwardly blushing by the whole ordeal. The Ice King saw her reaction and was entertained by it, but rather then awkwardly point it out he figured it would be best to resume the long trek back to the castle.

"Shall we then?" The Ice king asked. He motioned up the tunnel with his arms but had walked over to where the tatters of his shirt still lied on the ground. He bent over to pick them up, and Elsa got another look at the Ice King's back. While there were still fresh cuts and gashes all over his back, the spots where Elsa had placed her hands had somewhat healed, replacing the hideous gashes with scars of what they once were.

Elsa nodded, still blushing and embarrassed at how red she must have looked. Blood was pumping into her head very fast and she must have looked as red as an apple, especially since she was so naturally pale in the first place. And thus, they resumed their hike.

Elsa and the Ice King had walked for about two minutes in somewhat-awkward silence, punctuated only when the two would try to exchange quick glances of each other without them seeing it. The Ice King was blissfully unaware of how romantic the situation was, but Elsa's heart beat at a furious pace. Beautiful and breathtaking lights crisscrossed all over the tunnel, The Ice King was now shirtless, and Elsa was still trying to accept all the craziness that she had gone through in the last few hours while alone with the Ice King. First there was the ambush, then the mouth-to-mouth she had to perform, then the hug. She had never been thrusted into so many successively awkward situations before, and she could only hope that something else wouldn't happen to make it even more awkward.

The Ice King though had other plans.

"Sorry for ruining your first kiss by the way" - The Ice King said out of nowhere.

"What?" - Elsa immediately blurted out

"Before you punched me in my stomach to bring me back, you tried to resuscitate me didn't you?" - The Ice King

"W-Well, yeah. That's the only thing I could've done since you don't have a heart" - Elsa defended

"That's what I figured….. So yeah, sorry for ruining your first kiss" - The Ice King

"It was NOT a kiss" - Elsa

"Umm, your lips were on mine, so that counts as a kiss" - The Ice King joked

"No it doesn't! First off you were unconscious…" - Elsa started

"So? Guys in books kiss girls while they are asleep all the time, those count" - The Ice King

"Second, I was only trying to save your life" - Elsa added

"Sometimes the only way to save someone is a 'true love's kiss' " - The Ice King countered, he was having a blast at antagonizing Elsa, who was on the verge of throwing a fit over the subject.

"And lastly, you don't even know if i've ever kissed a guy before!" - Elsa finished

The Ice King shot her a glance similar to the one Sven gave to Kristoff long ago when he said 'She [Anna] is with her true love'…. "Well HAVE you ever kissed a guy before?" - The Ice King finally asked

Elsa was too embarrassed to lie or answer the question, so she turned away from the Ice King and more quickly made her way up through the tunnel, hoping that maybe the Ice King would drop the subject.

"Oh relax, there's nothing wrong with being a little shy when it comes to that kind of thing" - The Ice King said, trying to reel Elsa back into the playful argument he wanted to have.

"It wasn't a kiss, end of story." - Elsa muttered

"Well I think it was, and it was an open mouth kiss too, ooh you're dirty!" - The Ice King remarked in an antagonistic fashion. It certainly may have been unfair to tease Elsa in such a way after she did so much for him, but he didn't get the chance to do these kinds of things very often so he figured, why not?

Elsa stopped in her tracks and whipped around at his remark. "Watch yourself bud" She said while pointing a finger at the Ice King, who casually kept walking, unimpressed with Elsa's feigned hostility.

"Don't act like you didn't like it" - The Ice King countered

"Oh trust me I DIDN'T like it…. At all…. I almost vomited every time i had to do it" - Elsa coldly remarked

"You liked it and you know it, and don't worry, it's nothing to be ashamed of" - The Ice king playfully shot back, noting how Elsa was starting to turn beat-red once again.

"I should've just let you die." - Elsa bitterly remarked as she rolled her eyes in frustration, and the Ice King gave a very hearty laugh at that. Her dry, sarcastic reply was very different from the very defensive tone she had used before, and the sudden shift caught the Ice King so much by surprise that he couldn't help but laugh at it.

That was the first time Elsa saw the Ice King grin. He had given half-smiles before, but she had never seen him give a real, toothy smile before, and his smile was quite adorable. His teeth were straight and reasonably clean, at least for a guy who lived all by himself for 16 years or so, and he had adorable dimples in his cheeks when he smiled that were similar to Anna's whenever she smiled. While Elsa struggled to keep her composure over the teasing, the Ice King's uncanny smile calmed her down, and was another attractive feature of the Ice King she had now noticed…. Strikingly blue eyes, a quirky sense of humor, semi-awkward, a very good looking face, toned chest, now a dashing smile in addition to the white hair and ice powers that she also had…. But all of that was not nearly as intriguing to her as the unusual warmth she felt whenever the two of them touched or hugged, no matter how brief it may have been. Even when the Ice King was unconscious and borderline dead when she was trying to revive him, she could still feel the borderline-addictive warmth in him whenever the two were in contact. As Elsa kept a tally of all the Ice King's qualities, she could only think one thing over and over in her head.

_Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't Let it show._

* * *

><p>They finally made it into the hallway that led back into the castle, and the Ice King decided to throw in one last remark before their private journey ended.<p>

"Leo" - The Ice King said after coming to a stop. Elsa turned around and looked back at him, not understanding what he was trying to do or what he even meant.

"I'm sorry, what?" - Elsa asked.

The Ice King sheepishly looked down at his feet before looking back at Elsa. "My memory from before the incident is pretty broken, but i'm about 90% sure that my name back then was Leo." - He clarified. He almost seemed embarrassed to admit it, and probably didn't even know why he mentioned it in the first place. But now it was out there in the open, just like that.

"Leo?" - Elsa asked, to which the Ice King nodded. She didn't know how to respond to this revelation, which was as unexpected as it was awkward. All she could do was repeat his name over and over in her head as she thought of how to respond. "Leo… Leo is a nice name" - Was all she could come up with.

The Ice King gave a shy smile the same way an 8 year old might smile after telling his friend that he has a crush on someone in class, and what was even more adorable was that he was blushing over it too. Every time Elsa thought she had the Ice King figured out, he would pull something completely out of the ordinary and reveal another layer to himself that she never thought would have existed.

The Ice King then walked past Elsa and with a flick of his wrist opened the entrance back into the castle, which was becoming dark as the sun set and as the nightly winter storms rolled in. Elsa wondered how Kristoff and Anna were doing, along with Olaf and Axis, as the Ice King set down the three fish they had recovered from the lake on one of the tables and made his way into the main living room.

He opened the door, and was immediately greeted with a tremendous blow to the head from Anna's frying pan.


	20. Chapter 20: The Choices We Make

"ANNA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" - Elsa screamed as Leo crumpled to the ground

"KRISTOFF THEY'RE IN HERE, I GOT HIM!" - Anna said, aiming her frying pan at Leo.

Kristoff barged into the room. "Elsa, You're okay!"

"What… The….. F—"

"Anna! Why!?" - Elsa said, interrupting Leo as he clutched his head in pain through gritted teeth.

"MASTER!" - Axis yelled out from behind Anna as he observed Leo laying on the ground.

"OH MY GOD THERE'S A SPIDER" - Anna freaked out after spotting Axis, leaping into Kristoff's arms with enough force that he almost crashed into Elsa.

"DID IT JUST TALK?" - Kristoff yelled out in confusion

"YOU HURT MASTER, I SHALL KILL YOU ALL!" - Axis yelled back.

Elsa then let loose the combination of angst, rage, horror, and bewilderment that built up inside her through a huge blast of magic as she plastered everyone in the room minus herself with snow. The chaotic scene in the storage room/kitchen was literally snuffed out after Elsa dropped a foot of snow on everything within sight, immediately burying the Ice King and Axis while at the same time freezing Kristoff and Anna (metaphorically), who didn't even know what had just happened. The only sound that could be heard was Elsa's frustrated breathing at how quickly the situation had spiraled out of control, but now she was in control.

"Anna… For the third time…. WHY did you hit Leo with a FRYING PAN?" - Elsa

Anna, still baffled over suddenly being plastered with snow, was even more thrown off by hearing the Ice King's real name.

"Who the hell is Leo?" - She finally asked

"That would be me" - The Ice King said in a muffled voice, still under the layer of snow that Elsa had coated the room with.

"Wait, your name is Leo?" - Kristoff

"Your name is Leo?" - Axis

"My name is Olaf!" - Olaf announced as he waddled into the room.

"ANNA" - Elsa yelled out.

"WHAT?" - Anna yelled back

"WHY DID YOU HIT HIM!?" - Elsa asked, incensed that she had to ask the same question four times now.

"What? Oh…. Well, yeah, you were missing, and, he had poisoned us, and then he kidnapped you!" - Anna stated

"Axis….. What the hell?" - Leo asked, finally rising out of the snow like an undead zombie right as Axis managed to scurry out of the ice himself.

"What master?" - Axis

"Why do they think that IM the one who poisoned them and 'kidnapped' Elsa?" - Leo angrily asked.

"My orders were to stay hidden!" - Axis defended himself

"Okay timeout, what's going on here?" - Kristoff asked as he tried to lower Anna back onto her feet. She clung tighter to Kristoff though, refusing to let go, terrified at the sight of Axis. She hated spiders.

"Leo isn't the one who poisoned you, AXIS was, Axis the SPIDER…. Also, it wasn't poison, it was sleeping powder…. And Leo wasn't the one who ordered him to do it either…." - Elsa clarified.

"Well then where were you two at?" - Anna asked.

"We were getting dinner." Leo said, producing the three fish that he and Elsa had retrieved for them.

"Oh….. Okay good cause I'm starving and someone ate all the food from Kristoff's bag" - Anna said, casually getting down onto her feet while keeping one eye on Axis

"Okay I'll confess that I was partly responsible for that one" - The Ice King said, brushing snow off of himself. "We kind of peeled through it all looking for an antidote to the sleeping powder Axis gave you when you guys were asleep" he added

"Okay my turn. Why aren't you wearing a shirt and why do you look like you got mauled by a bear or something?" - Kristoff asked

"It's cause I DID get mauled by a bear….. and a wolf….. And so did Elsa…" - Leo

"Wait, WHAT?" - Anna

"Relax Anna, we ran into some trouble when we went to get the fish and we, well, we had to fight our way out of it." - Elsa

"Are you hurt!?" - Anna fearfully asked

"No…. Well a wolf did get my arm pretty good but I'm fine now" - Elsa quickly clarified, trying to keep Anna calm.

It didn't work

"YOU GOT ATTACKED BY A WOLF?!" - Anna freaked out.

"It only got my arm and the Ice Ki—, I mean Leo, fixed it for me." - Elsa said, casually showing off her arm and her torn sleeve as evidence that she was fine.

"Give me that!" - Leo said, snatching the frying pan out of Anna's hand. "You clearly can't be trusted with this!" He added before burying the frying pan deep inside one of the many cabinets of stuff in the room. Anna though didn't give a second thought about it, as she had seized Elsa's arm and was now thoroughly examining it with her own eyes.

"Why is there so much… Blue?" - Anna asked after a while

"Leo knew a healing trick that he used on me…. And is currently using on himself." - Elsa answered, as she watched Leo stick his hands on his lower back with a blue aurora around both his hands. He grimaced in pain and could only reach some of the more minor wounds on his back, but he was now fixing himself up on his own.

"Wait, you can use ice powers to heal wounds?" - Kristoff asked

"It doesn't completely fix them but it speeds up the process quite a bit" - Leo clarified as he retrieved a shirt from one of the other cupboards and began to gingerly put it on. The pain from one of his wounds though soon got the best of him, and he got himself stuck while trying to put the shirt on.

"Here, let me help" - Elsa said, awkwardly making her way through the snow towards Leo.

"Its just the one corner of it thats caught on my elbow…. And the other corner caught on my shoulder" - Leo said as Elsa helped him get dressed.

"Now that we're all dressed, sorry for you getting hit by a frying pan, can we eat? My stomach is starting to eat itself now and I could use a nap…." - Kristoff

"Kristoff, you've been asleep for 24 of the past 26 hours. How could you still be tired?" - Elsa asked incredulously.

"I'm a guy in my 20's, I could sleep for four days and still be tired….." - Kristoff

"Thats actually true, I can vouch for that" - Leo added, nodding in approval of Kristoff's claim. Elsa rolled her eyes before she and Leo began to clear the snow out of the room while Kristoff began to prepare the fish. Anna preoccupied herself with knowing the location of Axis at all times, while Axis and Olaf aimlessly wandered around doing nothing

* * *

><p>After dinner people quickly began to call it a day. Kristoff slept soundly, Olaf had converted Kristoff into a giant bed for himself and also was sound asleep, while Leo had retired to his own ice bed to sleep and ice his wounds while Axis slept nearby. Anna was wide awake, having slept for 22 hours straight with no desire to go back to sleep anytime soon, and Elsa was also awake as she tossed and turned in her makeshift bed, unable to go to sleep despite being up for well over 14 hours.<p>

"Elsa" - Anna whispered

"Yeah" - Elsa whispered back

"You wanna talk?" - Anna asked

"No" - Elsa answered

"Ok… Well I'm going to talk anyways because I can't sleep…." - Anna

Elsa sighed and turned to face Anna. Elsa was stuck in limbo between being sleepy and being unable to actually fall asleep, she had a lot on her mind with no easy answers either.

"How did the Ice King lose his shirt?" - Anna asked, still keeping her voice to a whisper

"A wolf tried to get him but it got his shirt instead and pulled it off over his head" - Elsa

"Why does he have so many scars?" - Anna

"He got attacked pretty bad by a wolf and a bear" - Elsa

"No, I mean scars, like he has them all over himself" - Anna

"Yeah, I noticed…. Im assuming they're from prior battles he fought" - Elsa

"Yeah… I think it looks kinda hot" - Anna

"What?" - Elsa said, accidentally breaking from a whisper as she was caught off by Anna's statement

"SHHHHH!" - Anna sushed her

"You think that his scars make him look hot?" - Elsa

"Well it does! In a way….. To me…... Don't tell Kristoff…" - Anna

"I didn't know you were into scars" - Elsa

"Well the Ice Ki—, I mean, Leo? Yeah Leo. Well Leo's physique ain't too bad either…." - Anna

"Anna!" - Elsa said, keeping her voice down to a loud whisper.

"Well it's true! It's not as nice as Kristoff's, but, hey, it's still a nice view to have" - Anna

Elsa giggled and rolled her eyes. "Anna you're crazy"

"Oh come on, don't act like you don't sort of enjoy the view either…." - Anna

"I'm not already in a relationship!" - Elsa said, still keeping her voice down to a loud whisper.

"That's not what I'm trying to ask!" - Anna

"Well then what ARE you trying to ask?….." - Elsa

"Well, what do you think, of, Leo's….. Physique?" - Anna asked

Elsa sat up a little. "Are you really asking me what I think of Leo?"

"No, i'm just, casually, nonchalantly, maybe, asking if you find his body attractive" - Anna

Elsa sat up all the way. "Why on Earth do you wanna know something like that?" - Elsa

"Because you act so normal around him!" - Anna

"So?" - Elsa

"So, thats not normal!" - Anna

"It's not normal that I act normal?" - Elsa

"No!…. Actually, wait… Yes! Yes thats what I mean" - Anna

"Anna that doesn't make any sense…" - Elsa

"Yes, yes it does, hear me out. Whenever you had to put up with diplomats and princes at your royal parties, you always seemed so ut off by them, like you had nothing to do with them…" - Anna

"And?" - Elsa

"And with Leo, you're the opposite. You don't mind his company at all, you seem to like hanging out with him. Do you?" - Anna

"Do I what?" - Elsa

"Do you like being around the Ice Ki—, crap, I mean Leo?" - Anna

Elsa feigned confusion but she knew exactly what Anna was asking, she just wasn't sure how to answer.

"I dont know" - Elsa finally answered.

"Oh come on, its a yes or no question" - Anna

"Fine, the answer is no." - Elsa

"Okay…. If you dont like being around him, then why did you go with him to go get fish?" - Anna asked

Elsa cursed herself under her breath, unable to find a way around that one.

"Okay fine, yes, I like being around him…." - Elsa admitted. If she had to open up about this to someone then it could only be Anna.

"How come?" - Anna

"What?" - Elsa asked

"What's the reason for why you like to be with him?" - Anna

"How should I know?" - Elsa

"Well who else could know but you?" - Anna

Elsa relented again and let a little more out. "Because, he seems normal"

Anna paused, not saying anything and coaxing Elsa to elaborate

"He doesn't see me as a queen, or as someone with ice powers, or even as a woman…. He see's me as a person. Its weird cause nobody else see's me as a person, but at the same time its really nice" - Elsa

"Me and Kristoff see you as a person…" - Anna said, feeling almost at fault for what Elsa said.

"Anna you see me as your sister, and Kristoff also sees me as your sister… Everyone I've ever met has seen me as exceptional, or, magical, or, something like that…. But Leo sees me as a normal person… And its nice" - Elsa

"Why is it nice?" - Anna asked, now she was the one confused.

"I always wonder what it would be like to be normal, how things would be different for me and how different life would be… Being with Leo though makes me feel normal though, and it feels really nice" - Elsa clarified. She was really revealing some deep thoughts to Anna, but it was nice to have someone to talk to about it, even if it was 1 in the morning.

"So, you like to be around the Ice King because he makes you feel normal?" - Anna asked, almost saddened by the revelation that she may have treated Elsa in a way that didn't make her feel like a normal person.

"Yeah." - Elsa answered, unaware of how Anna now felt while at the same time feeling relieved to have finally been able to tell someone else how she really wants to feel….. Normal.

"Is that the only reason?" - Anna asked after a while, breaking the small euphoria that Elsa was experiencing.

"What?" - Elsa asked

"Are you, you know….. Attracted to him?" - Anna

"Anna!" - Elsa whispered in shock. The conversation seemed to ping-pong back and forth between deep emotional revelations and pointless gossip with no middle ground.

"I'm just asking!" - Anna defended

"Why though?" - Elsa

"Well do you?" - Anna asked again

"No" - Elsa said with tension in her voice. Anna's eyes widened a little, the sudden shift in Elsa's voice was a clue that something else was going on. Anna got up off of the floor and sat upright towards Elsa, who still was lying on the floor.

"….. Are your suuuure?" - Anna asked carefully

"No" - Elsa repeated, still with tension in her voice.

Anna knew something was up. "Elsa there's nothing wrong with liking a guy"

"Anna—" Elsa started

"Elsa, you can talk to me…. Okay? You can talk to me….." - Anna emphasized, trying to find out what Elsa was concealing. Elsa, seeing the concern in Anna's face, was torn in between opening up or not. She couldn't tell if Anna was treating her like a friend and as a sister, or if she was sincerely trying to treat her as a normal person who just wanted her to open up a little.

Elsa rolled onto her back and let out a deep sigh. She stared up at the distant ceiling looking for an answer to the question that she already had.

"I don't know" Elsa finally said after a while

"Okay….. I don't understand" - Anna said, switching from trying to be understanding back to her confuses state of mind in not even two seconds

Elsa sat up and criss-crossed her legs, now completely unwilling and unable to go to sleep.

"I don't know if I like him…. If I love him….. And I don't want to find out" - Elsa

"Oh. Wait, what?" - Anna

"I don't know if I like him and I don't want to find out" - Elsa repeated

"Why don't you want to find out? Its not a bad thing if—" - Anna started

"Anna I don't WANT to be in love right now" - Elsa

Anna was at a loss for words. What started out as playful gossip had taken a turn into emotionville very quickly, and Anna never was the best at dealing with really deep emotions

"What do you mean you don't _want_ to be in love?" - Anna asked.

Elsa sighed. "One of the ways I know people don't see me as normal is because they think i'm some helpless bird stuck inside a cage who just wants to be free, someone who just wants someone else to come and romantically rescue me from some tower they think i'm locked up in..… But i'm not..… I'm just not….… Before, I wanted to isolate myself to keep myself hidden and not hurt anyone, but now I just want to isolate myself because I don't want anyone to hurt me, like how Hans hurt you….."

Anna still had absolutely no idea how to respond. She could only mutter a few words that crudely showed her train of thought of how she really wanted to respond.

"Elsa….. Love isn't….. It's not….. I'm okay….." Anna stammered

Elsa waved for her to stop. "Anna, if you didn't find Kristoff, if Hans broke your heart and Kristoff wasn't there to quickly mend it, could you imagine how hard that would be?"

Anna didn't exactly understand what Elsa was asking. "If Kristoff wasn't there, we'd be dead"

"No, Anna… Ugh" - Elsa said, pinching the space between her eyebrows in frustration. "Okay different scenario…. Imagine if Kristoff dumped you"

"Not possible" - Anna immediately replied.

"Trust me, I know, but i'm just using him as an example." - Elsa

"OH, okay." - Anna said, realizing now what Elsa was trying to get at

"Okay. Imagine if Kristoff broke up with you for, some reason, and imagine that after the break-up, you didn't find someone else to fall in love with…. How devastating would that feel?" - Elsa asked

Anna, hearing every word Elsa said, was on the verge of tears. Rather then just imagine being in the situation, Anna completely played it out in her head using her full emotional capacity with her imagination.

"I… I couldn't…. I could never live like that" - Anna stammered, horrified at what such a betrayal would feel like.

"Exactly…. Kristoff loves you Anna, and you love Kristoff. I dont know if I love Leo, and I know for a fact that Leo doesn't love me" - Elsa

"Wait, you don't know that! Maybe he does have a crush on you!" - Anna

"Anna, he doesn't have a heart….." - Elsa

"…..Oh yeah" - Anna

"Like I said. You and Kristoff love each other. Leo doesn't love me and I don't even know if I love him, but I don't want to find out…. I don't want to get hurt, and there's nothing more devastating than loving someone who doesn't even like you back….." - Elsa

"Well, I can understand that…. But, then whats the issue with _not_ liking him?" - Anna

"… Because he treats me like i'm actually a person…" - Elsa

"Oh… Right…" - Anna

"If I like him then i'll be hurt, badly, cause I know he cant love me back… And if I don't like him then I'll feel terrible since he's treated me better than any other guy I've ever known" - Elsa

"He treated you like your normal….." - Anna

Elsa nodded, then gave a slight laugh. "I must sound so weird…. Girls always dream of being treated like a princess or a queen, and as a queen I only want to be treated like a normal person…."

"Elsa… Geez…. What are you gonna do? This seems like a lose-lose situation here with bad consequences, emotionally, no matter what you do… So what ARE you gonna do?" - Anna

Elsa's casual smile quickly vanished and she stared at the window as the nightly winter storms raged. She knew that she only had one option, but she didn't like it…. Not one bit.

"We have to leave"

"What?" - Anna said, losing control of the volume

"That's the only way. We have to leave" - Elsa said, still staring at the dark chaos outside.

"Just, you mean, just leave? How would we even get out?" - Anna asked, struggling to keep her voice down.

"When we went to go get fish, Leo said that there was a tunnel that led out to Houkkaville. I remember passing it, and I think I know how he opened the secret passage in the other room. We could just, sneak out, and then be gone before he noticed." - Elsa

"That… That doesn't seem like the right thing to do Elsa" - Anna

"I know, but it would be easier for everyone else…. Easier for me" - Elsa

Elsa and Anna didn't say another word for the rest of the night, each of them gradually lying down and drifting off to sleep. Unbeknownst to either of them, Axis had watched them from the corner of the room, and he had overheard the entire conversation.


	21. Chapter 21: Divided We Fall

Elsa and Anna didn't say another word for the rest of the night, each of them gradually lying down and drifting off to sleep. Unbeknownst to either of them, Axis had watched them from the corner of the room, and he had overheard the entire conversation.

"Master, MASTER!" - Axis whispered as he crawled up next to Leo. "Wake up! We have a problem!"

"Are we being attacked?…." - Leo

"No master" - Axis

"Is someone about to kill all of us?" - Leo

"No master" - Axis

"Are you too nervous to sleep again because you're afraid of the dark?" - Leo

"...Not this time master" - Axis

"Then WHY are you bugging me Axis? Not only have I been up all day and can barely move, but I've also been attacked by a bear, a wolf, and a crazy woman with a frying pan….. " - Leo angrily muttered

"It's the prisoners sir! They say they plan to—" Axis started

"They're not prisoners Axis… They're not intruders, or enemies, or prisoners…. They're our _guests_" - Leo

"Well our 'guests' are planning on sneaking out without letting you know, master" - Axis

Leo slowly sat up from his bed, grimacing in the immense pain he felt in his back. Sleeping on a giant bed of ice unfortunately did not help numb the pain, and he was now almost in as much pain as he was after he was first attacked.

"Okay, what are you talking about?" - Leo said begrudgingly, annoyed that he was losing precious time to sleep.

"I heard the two women talking to each other, and one of them said that they should sneak out of the castle without letting you know" - Axis

Leo, relieved, began to carefully lay back down. "So Anna still doesn't trust me, I'm not concerned if she thinks that they should sneak away"

"Sir, it wasn't Anna though, it was the other sister who plans to sneak out, Elsa" - Axis clarified

Leo froze as Axis's words sank in, and then he slowly sat up until he was upright.

"You mean to tell me that ELSA was the one said she's going to sneak out?… Are you absolutely sure it was her?" - Leo

"I'm sure of it master, it was definitely Elsa. She wishes to leave and do so without you knowing…" - Axis

"Why?" - Leo asked. This didn't seem like something Elsa would do at all. In fact, Elsa was the last person he would expect to want to sneak away

"I don't know, they were speaking in some sort of meaningless coded babble that I couldn't understand" - Axis

"You mean girl talk?" - Leo

"Yes" - Axis

"So then in other words, we will never understand…." - Leo

"That appears to be the case master….. All I know is that Elsa wants to leave, and wants to do so quietly, without you knowing it" - Axis

Leo looked at the lifeless fireplace, still baffled as to why Elsa of all people was the one who wanted to leave. Leo had believed that Elsa was the only one who actually wanted to stay, and that the others only stayed because they didn't know a way out…. But Elsa did know of a way out, and evidently she plans on using it.

"You think it might have had something to do with begin attacked by a wolf?" - Leo asked Axis, fishing for a possible reason for why Elsa suddenly wanted to leave.

"No, she didn't mention anything about wolves or bears in the entire conversation, all they talked about was their 'feelings' and stuff like that…" - Axis

"Was it that she didn't feel safe?" - Leo

"No it wasn't that…." Axis shook his head "...What will you do master?"

"Hmm?" - Leo asked, glancing at Axis and losing his train of thought over why Elsa would want to leave.

"They want to leave, and do so without you knowing….. So what are your orders?" - Axis

"Orders? What am I supposed to do?" - Leo

"Well it's _your_ castle… And they are _your_ guests…." - Axis

Leo thought of his options. On the one hand, he could confront Elsa in private about why she wanted to leave to see her reasoning, but from what Axis told him he probably wouldn't really understand it anyways, and the last thing Elsa probably wanted to do was be confronted in the first place….. On the other hand though he could just ban them from leaving, but doing so really _would_ make them his prisoners, and after a while he would probably just let them leave anyways…..

Then there was option 3.

"Any ideas sir?" - Axis asked

Leo, after thinking it over, accepted what he would have to do. It was easily the most depressing option out of all the ones he could think of, but it was also the easiest.

"Just let them leave" - Leo

"haha, seriously, what do you want to do?" - Axis responded with a sarcastic laugh

"If they really want to leave…. Then we should let them" - Leo grimaced as he casually lied back down into bed, his wounds sending shooting pains throughout his back.

Axis was completely and utterly baffled. He had never seen his master so willingly give on something up before, especially regarding something as unique as people who _didn't _want to kill him….. He would have supported Leo's decision to prevent them from leaving or confront them 100%, but this to him was just madness.

"You… You would just let them leave? Are you insane!?" - Axis asked, borderline outraged

"They're out guests Axis… If they want to leave then they have the right to, I can't do anything about it" - Leo

"But you CAN master, you're the great and powerful Ice King! You've single handedly fought and beaten entire armies! You can do anything you wanted!" - Axis protested

"Axis, Elsa is the only person to see me for who I really am and accepted me as someone who isn't actually evil. Making her my prisoner would only make me the very thing that everyone else accuses me of being." - Leo

"Well to hell with peer pressure!" - Axis said, growing angry at Leo's lack of passion. "We've never met people as unique and amazing as these ones master, we cannot simply let them walk out the door!"

"Axis….." Leo said as he rolled onto his side to face him. "My entire life consists of either people who hate me and are trying to kill me, or people who know me and left anyways…."

"Name three people who ever walked out on you…." - Axis shot back, disbelieving Leo's claim.

Leo turned away from Leo onto his back where he stared up at the ceiling "Well lets see…..My mom left me… My dad left me… And my guardian left me…" His words were heavy, spoken as if they symbolized the very burden that he always and to carry.

Leo turned back to Axis, who didn't know how to respond. "I would rather have a hundred people hate me for no good reason, than to have even 1 person know who I truly am and still want to walk out of my life, cause it's the second one that you never get over…. Wounds heal after a while, it's the ones that aren't physical that never do"

Leo stared back up at the ceiling. "I've always wondered why people just suddenly leave, suddenly just want to exit your life never to see you again….. But it's just something that happens in life, at least in mine….. The only thing that hurts more then having them leave before you know they're gone, is to try to hang on to them and fail… Because then you're _forced_ to watch them walk out of your life, and that always hurts way worse….."

Leo turned onto his side facing away from Axis, who was left standing on his 8 tiny legs with no idea of what to say next. Axis knew in his gut that letting them go was the wrong thing to do, he just knew it, but Leo clearly didn't want to fight for them, to fight for Elsa.

"So, you're just gonna, let them go?….. Just like that?" - Axis

"Good night Axis" - Leo muttered

Axis, defeated, made his way down the side of the bed and took up his usual sleeping position next to the part of the leg that he blended into. Axis was depressed that Leo seemed so willing to give up on a woman who was easily the best thing to ever happen to him, but she was the one who wanted to leave in the first place, and Leo had a pretty decent reason for not wanting to fight to keep her.

Axis fell asleep wondering how different things would have been if Leo had a heart. Leo fell asleep shortly afterwards wondering the same thing.

* * *

><p>The only person who didn't sleep soundly that night was the Wizard, who had stayed up almost the entire night preparing to create King Micheal's legion of fire troops. While the theory of what had to be done was simple, the process of actually doing it was infuriatingly hard, and the wizard almost drove himself insane triple checking every measurement and going over his prior steps every time before doing something else.<p>

But one by one, they were born. Tiny little rock creatures that could be held in one's hand materialized from every batch he made. They were feisty little creatures that could only spit out a single flame, often firing at each other. The tiny blows simply bounced off of their hardened rocky exterior. Although they were harmless at their current miniature state, they would soon become killing machines once the final growth spell was casted on them.

The wizard was down to about 1/10th of what he took from the magnum crystal, but he had only used half of it for the minions in the first place, saving the other half as a potential last resort should the siege somehow fail. The wizard had already produced about 20 of the creatures for King Micheal, but he believed he could squeeze out three more from his remaining ingredients before he had completely exhausted his supply of half of the magnum-crystal. Of the 20 he had made so far, 8 of them would become behemoths, and 12 were in line to become snipers. 1 more of each would do, but what a minion would turn out to be was completely random and left up to chance.

The wizard had produced one more of each before King Micheal showed up at his doorstep with his usual legion of guards.

"Good morning Wiz—, are you alright?" - King Micheal asked, noting the Wizards disheveled state.

"Wha—? Oh i'm fine, nothing a wee bit of sleep couldn't fix once im done with all this" - Wizard

"If you say so…. Are the minions ready?" - King Micheal

"Yes!" he nodded feverishly. "Well, almost. There's just one last thing to be done before they are ready" he corrected himself, motioning towards a large box that sat on the table. King Micheal peered inside and saw the flurry of tiny rock minions shooting harmless flames at one another.

"Ummm, I was under the idea that they would be….. Bigger….." - King Micheal disappointedly muttered

"Oh trust me, they will be once I put the growth spell on them. If I could just find the right type of sand…." - The wizard said as he began to dig through the shelves and objects scattered all over the room. "AHA! We're in luck!" he said after producing a tiny brown bag out of nowhere.

"Lovely, so when these… things…. are full size, how big will they be?" - King Micheal asked

"Well the chubbier ones will become quite large, behemoths probably, while the frailer ones will be about human sized." - The wizard clarified as he examined the contents of the bag he had produced

"So throwing away the small ones, I have about 8 worthy fighters from this batch?" - King Micheal asked.

The wizard chuckled. "Size isn't the only valuable attribute a soldier can have my king. While the behemoths can take loads of damage while the smaller ones are more frail, the smaller ones are far more powerful than their larger brethren, the small ones will be the ones who do the most damage."

"I don't understand how that could be possible" - King Micheal

"Each minion has the same amount of fire power in them. When I cast the growth spell on them, their sizes will increase exponentially, but they're firepower will only increase geometrically" - Wizard

"I still don't understand"- King Micheal

The wizard rolled his eyes. "The amount of fire power in the smaller ones is more concentrated since they are smaller, while the bigger ones will be less powerful since their firepower is displaced over a much larger area….. Make sense?"

"Yes" King Micheal lied. "So what you're saying is that all of these minions will be of great use to me, not just the big ones?"

The wizard nodded as he grabbed a few more things. "Shall we go and grow your minions my king?"

"The sooner the better" - King Micheal nodded, picking up the box of fire minions and following the Wizard out the door.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" - The wizard said, lurching to a halt and almost causing King Micheal to drop the box of his minions. The wizard then darted back into the main lab room and picked up a large brown bag that was lying near one of the table legs.

He tied it to King Micheal's belt. "This bag contains some old throwing stars that are laced with a paralysis potion, and a knife that has a deadly poison around its edge. When the Ice King is weakened and you're in the event where your minions cannot help you, this bag will keep you in the fight"

"Throwing stars paralysis, and poisonous knife, got it" - King Micheal said as the wizard once again led him towards the exit.

"Set the box on that there, NO don't set it on the ground! That'll kill them. Because of the COLD stupid. They're still very weak at this stage so we much act quickly." - The wizard said as he directed around King Micheal and his guards. "Set them on a box so that they aren't touching the ground!"

"So how will this work, you just cast the spell and take cover?" - King Micheal asked

"There will be a tad of an explosion yes, but the minions themselves will need to take a few minutes to grow to their full size before they are ready. Then after that they will be all yours" - Wizard

"Very well. Whenever you're ready" - King Micheal said, as he and his guards took several steps away and braced for the bang.

The wizard, after going through the calculations in his head for the 30th time, gripped the ingredients in his hand and threw open the lid to the box. The instant cold of the outside air rushed in and almost extinguished all the minions, but once they grow in size they would become much more resistant to the frozen atmosphere around them.

The wizard lowered his voice and began his chant. (words separated by dashes are words that are to be spoken/thought quickly)

"Let them grow, let him know,  
>we mean business to our foe,<br>let him know, let them grow,  
>give them strength from head to toe,<br>powers-of-the-earth, let-your-magic show!  
>See these things and make them grow!<br>Grant-us-your-power and create the lore!  
>Of how the Ice King BECAME NO MORE!<p>

The wizard than thrusted all the contents of his hands into the box, and was thrown back several feet into the snow as a tremendous bang echoed across the landscape. Trees shook and the stilts holding up the wizards cabin almost buckled from the blast as heaps of snow was blasted into the air in all directions.

King Micheal, who had taken refuge behind a nearby tree when nobody else noticed, was the first to emerge from cover, straining his eyes as he struggled to see through the white-out that the blast had created. King Micheal wandered aimlessly through the artificial storm trying to locate his fire-troops as his fellow guards began to emerge from cover one by one. A faint light in the storm soon caught King Micheal's eye, and he began to wander towards it.

Soon the flicker had turned into two. Then three. Then five.

The snow began to settle back onto the ground and King Micheal no longer had to strain his eyes. The fire minions the wizard had created were growing right before his eyes, the larger ones were already the height of a wolf while the smaller ones only lagged slightly behind. They all inched upwards in height as the wizard and other guards gathered around to observe the spectacle. As King Micheal stood there and watched with them, a grin snaked across his face and a single thought snaked into his mind.

_The Ice King is in for one hell of a fight._

* * *

><p>The bang from the spell echoed through the mountains up into Leo's castle, where everyone casually woke up from the sound. Axis immediately went into a panic while everyone else in the castle was only mildly curious and confused about what could have caused the bang.<p>

"Master! They're coming! They're coming!" - Axis cried out as Leo limped out of bed. Spending the night with his back had numbed the pain, but it all same roaring back once Leo's muscles stretched in their routine motions.

"Axis, it was probably just a distant avalanche, you know that we hear distant bangs like that every once in a while." - Leo said, trying to calm Axis

"But sir, it could very well be the sign of an impending attack! The Winter Solstice is over and you are severely weakened! You could be in grave danger!" - Axis

"Axis, the people in town don't know that i'm injured, and something tells me they are all still too shaken to launch another assault from the last attack two days ago" - Leo said with a casual smile, still snickering at how deliciously evil the entire maze idea was. He still didn't know how he thought of that, but it would definitely be a trick he would try to use again in the future.

Leo finished dressing himself and made his way into the main living room, where Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff were all picking up the clothes that they had used to make makeshift beds for the night. Leo glanced at Elsa and Anna, seeing if their faces would betray of the plotting they did last night where Elsa allegedly had proposed to sneak out, at least according to Axis. Elsa and Anna made casual greetings to Leo as he entered the room and didn't make too much eye contact with him. A little odd maybe, but certainly not enough to raise suspicion or to confirm their plot to sneak out.

Leo thought a little more about his decision to allow Elsa and her friends to leave, but couldn't decide how to do so. He was torn between leaving the secret passageway open and allowing them to slip out on their own,pretending to turn a blind eye in the process, or if he would simply ask if they wanted to leave and then allowed them to go upon saying yes. He could also have asked them to leave for some made up reason, but that could possibly ask Elsa or Anna to question why, and then cause Leo to reveal that he knew of their intentions to leave in the first place.

While Leo was wondering what would be the best way to let the gang leave, Elsa was wondering how they could even sneak out without Leo noticing in the first place. Elsa had seen Leo open the door three times, but not in the time after she told Anna that they should sneak out, and Elsa was unsure if she could repeat the twisting option of the wrists needed to open up the gates. Even if she could figure out how to open the doors, Leo would very quickly discover that they had left since the castle only had 3 rooms.

Anna on the other hand was still trying to figure out if sneaking out in the first place. It seemed like a very dirty trick to do and very hard to even pull off in the first place, but Anna promised to support Elsa's decisions no matter what, and Anna sympathized with Elsa's reasoning for wanting to leave in the first place. Anna thought of telling Kristoff about the plot and see what he would think, but Kristoff wanted to get out of the castle more than anyone else due to his disdain for Leo, so Kristoff's position on the move was already clear.

_'Why do things always have to be so complicated?' _Anna thought to herself.

"Morning Leo!" - Olaf blurted out as he emerged from his slumber, breaking everyone else's train of thought in the process. "Hey just out of curiosity, what is the plan for Breakfast? I don't actually have to eat but I could go for a little adventure right now." he added as he stretched

That was when Leo saw his chance. Although he still hadn't made up his mind about how he was going to let them all leave, the perfect opportunity had just presented itself to him, and he couldn't turn it down.

"I, actually, was thinking I would run down to the lake again and get some fish or something while you guys all wait here" - Leo improvised. Getting breakfast for them would be the perfect cover to leave the passageway open and letting the rest of them leave while he was gone.

Axis though immediately recognized what leo was trying to do, and countered with a proposition of his own. "Master, I don't think it would be wise to have fish for two straight meals. What if I were to go sneak into houkkaville and bring back some breakfast for you all myself? I do still have to make up for me poisoning Anna and kristoff with the sleeping powder after all"

Leo looked at Axis with a very unsubtle look of anger at Axis's insubordination, but before Leo could even make up a reason to stick to his proposal, Olaf had chimed in and remedied the problem on his own.

"Last time we had breakfast in Houkkaville we had soup, and while I thought it was _amazing_, I think everyone else would much prefer that Leo go out and get fish while we stay here for a couple hours" - Olaf said, oblivious to all of the motives of the people around him.

Leo fought a grin and Axis frowned as Olaf foiled Axis's plot, while Anna and Elsa simultaneously recognized that Leo going to get them breakfast would present the ideal opportunity for them to sneak out on their own.

"Yeah! Yeah thats right, the food there is simply _awful_, i'd much rather stay here then go back to Houkkaville!" - Anna said with a forced laugh, awkwardly not trying to give away their intentions. Elsa shot Anna a warning glare to not give away their plan to leave to Leo, but Leo immediately recognized the dirty lie Anna told, and simply acted ignorant over the comment.

"See Axis, they would much rather have fish over whatever you could bring back from Houkkaville. Besides, I don't think you could carry enough breakfast for 4 people" - Leo satisfactory told Axis. "Let me just grab a few things from the storage room and then I'll be on my way". Leo, still fighting the pain in his back, strode into the storage room/kitchen and began fiddling around while Axis followed behind him, suspiciously eyeing Anna and Elsa as he did so.

* * *

><p>Leo closed the door behind him after Axis wedged through, and Axis immediately went off on him.<p>

"Sir you cannot seriously allow them to leave!" - Axis protested

"They want to leave and they have the right to. They certainly don't do me any good staying here" - Leo said as he searched for his special rock.

"But they are the best thing that has ever happened to you sir! That has happened to either of us!" - Axis

"I know." - Leo said, sighing and pausing from his search. He turned to face Axis. "But all good things must come to an end…."

* * *

><p>"Elsa this is perfect!" - Anna excitedly whispered to Elsa.<p>

"I know Anna I know, keep your voice down" - Elsa responded

"Ergh, what are you talking about" - Kristoff groaned as he got to his feet.

"They're talking about how they plan to leave while Leo goes to get them breakfast" - Olaf

Anna and Elsa froze and stared at Olaf, while Kristoff stared at Anna and Elsa, all of them but Olaf shocked in the revelations that had just happened.

"Wait, you guys were planning to sneak out of here?" - Kristoff asked Anna incredulously

"Olaf how, how did you know?" - Elsa asked Olaf

"Pfft, of course I overheard you. You think I could actually fall asleep near Kristoff when he smells like a barn?" - Olaf casually remarked

"Hey" - Kristoff shot back, offended at the small insult.

"Kristoff we only decided to sneak out last night while you were asleep" - Anna clarified

"Olaf have you told anyone else? Does anybody else know about our plan?" - Elsa asked Olaf

"Whoa there Elsa, thats like, TWO, different questions" - Olaf

"Have you told anyone else about the plan?" - Anna asked Olaf

"No, why?" - Olaf

"Does anybody else know about our plan?" - Elsa asked next

"Yeah, why?" - Olaf

"What are you talking about? I didn't know! Why don't you guys tell me anything?" - Kristoff asked Anna after responding to Olaf

"Olaf, who else might know about the plan?" - Anna asked

"Axis, why?" - Olaf

"Wait... AXIS knows about the plot?" - Elsa asked in horror. Leo might have found out about their plan after all.

"Yeah, he was in the corner of the room watching us the entire time…... Why?" - Olaf

Anna and Elsa exchanged nervous glances. "Do you think Axis told Leo?" - Anna asked before Elsa could.

Elsa thought it over for a second. "No... No I don't think he did..." - Elsa

"Wait a minute, Axis is like his servant, why would he NOT tell Leo of the plan to sneak out?" - Kristoff asked

Elsa shook her head. "If Axis told Leo, then Leo wouldn't have offered to go get us breakfast and leave us here alone. That means he still doesn't know"

"Then it also means we don't have a lot of time, we have to leave when Leo leaves or else we won't be able to" - Kristoff

* * *

><p>"Master this is still a bad idea, we can't just let them leave!" - Axis protested to Leo yet again.<p>

"Axis my mind is already made up, thats final" - Leo said

Axis though was cleverer than Leo had given him credit for.

"You can't let them sneak out though because they won't be able to find a way out" - Axis cooly remarked

Leo had found the special rock he was searching for, but looked at Axis in infusion over his new protest. "What are you talking about, there are only two tunnels that go through the mountain, and one leads straight to Houkkaville, it's impossible for them to not find their way out"

"They won't find their way out because they won't be able to _see_. They need the glowing ice to see where they are going, and they won't be able to navigate if you don't light up the tunnel for them." - Axis

"Then i'll light up both tunnels for them so that they can see where they are going" - Leo countered, making his way towards the secret door

"But if you light up the tunnel for them, then they'll know that you intended for them to leave!" - Axis said

Leo stopped in his tracks. Axis was right! If he illuminated the second tunnel for Elsa and her friends, than that would have given away that he knew of their intention to escape all along since he had no reason to illuminate the second tunnel leading to Houkkaville in the first place.

"Crap, you're right….." - Leo muttered, pondering how to remedy this potential problem.

"See? There's nobody else who could lead them through the tunnel other than you!" - Axis delightfully said in victory. Unfortunately though, his remark had opened up the door to his defeat, and a look of realization swept over Leo's face.

"Actually, there IS somebody else who could help them them through the tunnel other than me" - Leo said, looking back at Axis.

Axis's gleeful look vanished. "Wait, what? Who else could help them go through the tunnel to Houkkaville?"

Leo grinned at Axis for several seconds before Axis realized the answer to his own question.

"Wait a minute… ME?" - Axis

"You!" - Leo nodded

"B-but, I-I, why would I lead them through the tunnel?" - Axis asked

"Because I ordered you to" - Leo replied

"When did you order me to lead them through the tunnel to Houkkaville?" - Axis

"I just did….." - Leo

"No. No absolutely not. I, I REFUSE" - Axis defiantly responded.

"I am giving you an order Axis. While I am gone, you are to provide assistance to Elsa and help her and her friends go through the tunnel to Houkkaville, AND, you cannot tell them that I knew of their plan" - Leo said.

"But master, I cannot just—" - Axis

"Thats an order Axis, do you understand?" - Leo interrupted

"Master I can't—" - Axis

"Do you understand?" - Leo interrupted again

"Master please, I—" - Axis started again

"Do. You. Understand." - Leo interrupted a third time, using the most serious voice and sternest face he could muster.

Axis stared back at Leo in protest as if they were trying to see who would blink first. Axis's defiance, as brave as it was, was still no match for the severity in the look of Leo, and he relented.

"Yes master. I understand my orders and shall carry them out" - Axis said with a soft, defeated tone of voice.

"Excellent... Your orders are to wait in the tunnel where they divide in two, and then provide assistance to Elsa and her friends as they leave, all while not telling them that we knew of their plans all along." - Leo said as he opened the secret passageway with a flick of his wrist.

* * *

><p>After bringing Kristoff up to speed about the plan to sneak out of the castle, while leaving out the part of why Elsa emotionally could not stay near King Leo much longer, Leo called out from the other room to them and they all fell quiet.<p>

"Hey, I'm heading out to get you some breakfast now. It might take me a while, but i'll be back in about an hour or so!" - Leo called out

"Okay, we'll be right here" - Anna called back.

"I'm going to take Axis with me so that if something happens he can come up and get you guys, so i'm leaving the door open so that if something does go wrong you guys can come help me, okay?" - Leo called out again

"Good idea" - Elsa casually called back, amazed at the dumb luck they suddenly seemed to be getting.

"So how long should we wait after he leaves before we sneak out?" - Kristoff asked Anna and Elsa

"Oh, lets count to 60 and then leave!" - Olaf said before starting to count.

"Make it 100 just to be safe…." - Elsa reasoned. Leo appeared to be fighting a limp, and they didn't want to accidentally catch up with him in the tunnel when they decided to leave.

'_One….. Two..…Three…..' _ They all anxiously muttered in unison

* * *

><p>"This is possibly your best work ever wizard" - King Micheal remarked as his new fire-soldiersminions matured to their full size

"I've always wanted to use that spell" - The wizard gossiped, looking at his creation as if they were receiving their high-school diplomas. "Just give the order and they'll follow whatever you command!" he added

King micheal gave a casual nod, raised his rusted sword over his head and then barked out a single command to test out his authority.

"March!"

The fire minions gazed back at King Micheal, who pointed his sword up towards the top of the mountain in a statuesque pose. The minions then turned and marched up the mountain, but they all yelled out in doing so, not in fury or in anger, but in pain.

The fiery feet of the solder/minions planted into the snow-coated ground beneath them, erupting into stacks of steam in the process. The minions lifted up their feet and tried to plant them elsewhere, with the same result with every step they tried to take.

King Micheal observed this phenomena, and angrily turned to the wizard.

"You give me fire minions who can't even stand to walk on snow, and you expect them to defeat the Ice King?!" - King Micheal fired off

The wizard was unconcerned though. "They'll survive don't worry. It'll just take them some time to get up the mountain is all"

"How much time exactly?" - King Micheal angrily asked.

"No more than an hour, i'm sure" - The wizard said reassuringly.

King Micheal, annoyed with the setback, reluctantly put it behind him and had his men follow the fire minions up the mountain towards the Ice King's castle.

* * *

><p>The clock was now ticking, with many different parts and pieces now in motion, all on a path towards one final convergence.<p> 


	22. Chapter 22: Apocalypse

Axis made his way slowly down the tunnel to wait for Elsa while Leo climbed the ice staircase near the bathroom up into the observation deck. Leo figured it was pointless to hike all the way down the mountain to get food when he still had some (albeit old) fish still in the storage room, so he opted to wait in the observation deck instead. He wouldn't actually see them as they left, but he could hear them when they did as the tunnels echoed quite a bit.

Leo entered the observation deck, which was a long, skinny corridor lined on one side with windows of ice that looked out onto Houkkaville below. He watched over the path which lead up to the entrance of his castle. The path snaked almost all the way down the mountain until it pulled to the left out of sight, towards where the Wizards hut was located. Leo casually strode back and forth down the hallway observing Houkkaville in the distance, keeping his ears peeled for the sound of footsteps. His back still hurt like hell, every step he took sent a small lighting strike of pain through his back.

Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and Kristoff finished counting to 100 and casually peeked into the storage room/kitchen, holding their breath for any sign that the Ice King may be heading back into the castle.

"Is that footsteps?" - Kristoff whispered

"No, that's just my heart beating in my chest" - Olaf

"Olaf, you don't have a heart" - Anna

"Oh…. Right….. Kristoff I guess you're just going insane" - Olaf

"Shush! It's probably nothing" - Elsa whispered, silencing everyone. They all stood still and didn't make a sound, waiting almost another full minute before they finally concluded that Leo and Axis were indeed gone. "Okay, lets move" Elsa whispered.

"Wait!" - Anna

"What?" - Kristoff

"…..I need to get my frying pan…" - Anna

"Anna, you don't need the frying pan" - Elsa

"Um, yeah I do! I've had to use it on the Ice King like three times now - Anna

"Two of those times shouldn't even have happened in the first place!" - Elsa whispered loudly

"Where did he even hide it?" - Kristoff

"He stuck it in one of the cupboards I believe" - Olaf

"Give me two minutes…." - Anna

"Guys we don't have time for this, lets head out now otherwise we'll risk getting caught" - Elsa

"Alright alright, geez…." - Anna

Elsa led the group to the secret doorway, stopping again to listen for any sounds of footsteps. After a short pause, the entire group soon headed down the tunnel for Houkkaville.

"Hey Elsa, not that I don't think you know where you're going or anything, but do you actually know which tunnel we're supposed to take when they split in two?" - Olaf asked

"I know where i'm going Olaf, just keep your voice d—"

"SPIDER!" - Anna interrupted, her voice echoing all through the tunnels as she pointed towards Axis who sat where the tunnels split into two.

"Oh crap, it's Axis!" - Kristoff whispered

"We don't have to whisper Kristoff, I think he sees us. Cause, well he's staring right at us, and he can hear us" - Olaf

Axis faked the best angry face he could, as ordered by Leo. Leo let Axis come up with his own plan for how to confront Elsa and help them, so Axis decided he would pretend to be mad, than become sympathetic to their cause and lead them through the tunnel to houkkaville.

"What are you doing in here?" - Axis angrily asked.

"Axis just, wait" - Elsa said, outstretching both of her arms to calm Axis down.

"See, this is why we should have gotten my frying pan" - Anna muttered

"Why, so you can crush me?" - Axis replied, overhearing Anna's comment

"Anna let me handle this" - Elsa

"He's a SPIDER guys, we can crush him with our own feet if we wanted to" - Kristoff

"Aw but then there would be guts everywhere and it'll be a whole mess and we havent done laundry in a while…." - Olaf

"GUYS" - Elsa yelled. Her voice echoed through the tunnels like Anna's had before, and everyone fell silent.

Elsa turned to Axis and casually dropped down to one knee. "Axis… I know this looks bad, but I promise you, this isn't what it looks like"

"It looks like you're trying to sneak out…." - Axis interrupted.

"… Okay this is exactly what it looks like" - Elsa admitted

"Elsa what are you doing?" - Kristoff

Elsa waved a hand behind her to silence Kristoff. "Axis, we realize now that Leo isn't evil, and we ha don intention of killing him when we first came here….. And the truth is that there isn't any reason for us to stay here….. Which is why you have to let us go"

"Puh… And what do you expect me to do, just let you leave?" - Axis bluffed. He couldn't give in too easily. "Besides, it'll take you forever to navigate through the tunnel to Houkkaville since the tunnel isn't even lit in the first place!"

Elsa looked up towards the fork in the tunnel, and Axis wasn't lying. Leo only lit the tunnel leading to the wilderness on his way to get breakfast, the tunnel leading out to Houkkaville remained pitch black. Elsa hadn't thought about that before, and now that Axis had caught them and would surely rat them out to Leo, she began to grow desperate.

"Alright Axis, you caught us. You found us out fair and square, so now you have a choice to make….. You could either lead us through the tunnel and help us escape…" - Elsa started

"HA, Never in a million years would help you esca—" - Axis

"Or we could squish you to death and navigate through the tunnel ourselves" - Elsa finished, her words hung in the air as everyone's eyes widened a little at what Elsa was saying.

"Are…. Are you giving me a death threat?" - Axis asked, actually nervous at Elsa's proposal. He was expecting Elsa to start sobbing and begging for his help, not that she would threaten to kill him.

Axis though wasn't the only person who knew how to bluff. Elsa, to back up her threat, closed her eyes and flashed back to the coldest moment in her life to summon the purple aurora around her hands. Soon enough, the ice began to pile up in her hands and arms, and the deep purple aurora materialized once again.

Everyone in the tunnel gasped, none of them had seen Elsa due the magic that Leo had shown her before.

"Okay, okay okay i'll lead you through the tunnels!" - Axis said, taking several steps backwards away from Elsa. Elsa heard Axis's surrender, but another thought popped into her head that, if it worked, would only further leave Axis at her mercy.

Standing back up onto both of her feet, Elsa let loose all of the ice in her hands down the darkened tunnel to Houkkaville, hoping that the purple hue would be carried with it and just maybe illuminate the tunnel…. Unfortunately, the blast only let off a blindingly bright flash of purple before fading away, leaving behind only regular ice that now plastered the tunnel.

"Ha!… Haha!… I see what you tried to do, but it didn't work!" - Axis triumphantly pointed out as the purple hue around Elsa's hands faded.

"No matter…" - Elsa replied, unconcerned about the literal shot in the dark. "There's one other thing I could do that would make your help unneeded"

"Pfft, like what?" - Axis

"I could simply use the aurora around my hands as a torch and navigate through the tunnel that way….." - Elsa smirked, crossing her arms and striking a triumphant pose. She knew she had just gotten a checkmate on Axis. Axis, realizing that Elsa's new plan would indeed work, didn't quite know how to react to being completely at her mercy. He turned around to face the two tunnels behind him as he quickly tried to think of up some sort of reason to prove why Elsa still needed his help.

"Since we don't need your help, I'll offer you a deal. You come with us to the exit instead of going to get Leo, or we crush you and leave anyways" - Elsa said, trying to restrain her excitement at pulling off such a bold lie. She didn't think she could bring it onto herself to actually kill Axis, but her showmanship had clearly convinced Axis and everyone else that she would, and Axis buckled.

"Alright, fine….. I'll come with you to the exit" - Axis bitterly remarked. He had planned to give in the first place, but actually being forced into a situation where he had no choice to was still a very unpleasant experience.

Axis and Elsa then proceeded on leading the rest of the gang down into the tunnel towards Houkkaville.

* * *

><p>"The Ice Castle is in sight, keep marching!" - King Micheal yelled out to his fire minions, who continued to roar in pain with every fiery footstep in the snow they took. The progress they were making was maddeningly slow, and King Micheal feared what fresh hell was to greet him inside those icy walls.<p>

* * *

><p>Leo saw them coming from a mile away, but he struggled to make out what he was actually seeing before it hit. The strange flickering coming from the figures, some of them noticeable larger than the others, wasn't some weird reflection of sunlight like he thought.<p>

King Micheal finally had acquired the fire soldiers he was always begging for from the Wizard.

_'What did he say to convince him?' _ Leo wondered as he raced down the staircase. He knew that one day fire soldiers would come to the doors, and he had a plan for when that would happen.

Leo limped down the stairs into the tunnel which was empty. He hadn't heard Elsa and the rest of her friends exit, but they must have already left when he was observing the distant troops marching to attack him.

Still wincing in pain, Leo ran all about his castle preparing a series of traps he had long planned out, stopping only to grit his teeth when the pain in his back became too much to bear.

* * *

><p>Elsa was getting very good at keeping her aurora around her hands as she led the group down the tunnel. She could now hold it without losing her concentration for several minutes, compared to tens of seconds like before. The purple hue was breathtaking to observe in the pitch black tunnel, everyone was staring at it like a deer staring at headlights as Elsa and Axis made their way down deeper into the tunnel.<p>

Anna then looked away from the aurora around Elsa's hands after a thought hit her harder than a brick.

"Hey Axis… Umm, random question, what were you doing in the tunnel?" - Anna asked

"I was traveling with Leo to get breakfast for you all" - Axis replied like he practiced

"Yeah, yeah I know THAT. I mean why weren't you WITH him though? Like why were you alone in the tunnel?" - Anna

"Oh. I was….. Hmmmmm….. I was probably…. OH! The Ice King sent me back up to let you guys know that he had collected breakfast and would return soon." - Axis stammered

Elsa stopped in her tracks.

"Wait a minute….. How could Leo have already sent you back up when you had only been gone for like, 5 minutes?… It took us like half an hour for us to go down there last time" - Elsa asked, confused over the gaping hole in Axis's story.

"Hey yeah!" - Kristoff chimed in. "And his back looked like it was really bothering him and slowing him down too" he added.

"Maybe he made a gigantic slide and slid his way down! That would be sooooooooo cooooool" - Olaf

"Olaf there wasn't any ice slide on the floor when we went through the tunnel. Now talk Axis" - Elsa

"What was the question?" - Axis asked, nervous that his cover was being blown

"Why were you alone in the tunnel only a few minutes after Leo left? Leo told us you were going to stay with him unless something happened to him, so whats going on?" - Elsa

"Yeah, it's like you were almost waiting for us or something" - Olaf said, angrily staring at Axis because he wanted to fit in with everyone else.

Axis ping-ponged back and forth between all of their faces, completely at a loss for words for how to respond….. "I was just flowering orders?" was all he could come up with.

Anna figured it out before Elsa did for once. Well, almost. "Oh my god! Guys! He WAS waiting for us! We're walking into a trap!"

"What?" - Kristoff

Elsa aurora quickly faded away, plunging everyone into blinding darkness. After reliving the memory for the 20th time, the ice pooled in her hands and the aurora returned.

Axis, who had taken advantage of the darkness to scurry down deeper into the tunnel, froze when the aurora returned, and stared back as Elsa and everyone else feverishly looked for where he had gone

"There he is!" - Olaf said, flinging his nose at Axis and missing by a wide margin.

Axis panicked, and scurried around in circles trying to think of what to do. Elsa though had ran over and put her foot down on Axis to pin him. She didn't crush him, but she now had him pinned under her boot and was threatening to end Axis once and for all

"Alright Axis, talk, otherwise I'll squish you like the insect you are" - Elsa

"Technically he's an arachnid. I learned that from a coloring book I found earlier" - Olaf

"Please don't squish me! PLEASE don't squish me!" - Axis pleaded

"TALK" - Elsa said, putting down more and more pressure on Axis.

"OKAY OKAY ILL TALK JUST STOP" - Axis cried out after one of his icy legs snapped.

Elsa removed her boot from on top of him while everyone else encircled Axis, surrounding him and preventing him from possibly escaping again.

Axis, panting and wincing as he confirmed his leg had shattered, finally spilled the beans after he realized that there was no easy way to make it go away.

"Alright. Alright look. The Ice King knows you were planning on leaving, so he left me in the tunnel where they split in two because he ordered me to lead you through to Houkkaville." - Axis

"Wait a sec, that doesn't make any sense! Why would Leo just ALLOW us to leave?" - Anna asked

Axis shook his head. "I dunno i dunno. It seemed stupid to me but it was what he wanted so I followed his orders"

"Axis ive had it up to HERE with your lies, tell us the TRUTH!" - Elsa said, aiming her still glowing hands at Axis

"IT'S THE TRUTH I SWEAR! Please! Please, i'm telling the truth. Please." - Axis begged, turning into a ball and bracing for impact.

Elsa lowered her hands and the aurora around them started to wane. She was completely confused by Leo's actions and couldn't tell if Axis was lying or not.

"Axis, ah-why would Leo just, just let us LEAVE? Surely he must have given you a reason" - Elsa asked

Axis shook his head. "He gave a reason but I didn't understand it. He thought it would be wrong to let you leave and I said that he shouldn't let you leave. The whole thing was—" - Axis

"You mean that you wanted him to not let us leave!?" - Anna

"Whats up with that?" - Olaf said, still feigning anger to fit in.

"I didn't want you guys to leave because, well, you bring out the best in him…" - Axis admitted

The aurora flickered before blowing out, and Elsa quickly reignited it. Axis stood perfectly still despite the incident, he had given up on trying to escape.

"What do you mean, 'brings out the best in him'?" - Elsa asked

"Well….. Usually the Ice King just makes plans for defenses, reads books, and does pottery. Living in here has been a very mundane and boring life when large battles aren't taking place. But ever since you guys have shown up, i've seen a different side to him. Now he acts like he runs a hotel where he decides to not kill intruders, and yells at me when I poison people…. What i'm saying is that you guys seem nice and don't want to kill us, and you bring out the best in Leo, which is why I didn't want you to leave" - Axis finished.

"Sooo, Leo was just fine with letting us leave then?" - Anna

"Hell no. He was pretty upset when I told him that Elsa was the one who wanted to leave, but he still ordered me to lead you guys through the tunnel and help you escape while he was gone" - Axis

Elsa's aurora flickered out yet again, and she ignited them yet again, still struggling to hold her focus while thinking over everything. She and Anna exchanged glances, each of them had the same sullen look on their face like they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Kristoff figured out what they were both considering.

"Guys, no, we are NOT going to go back" - Kristoff

"But, but now that Leo KNOWS that we were gonna leave, now this all just feels wrong" - Anna

"If he was okay with letting us leave, then there's no reason why we need to go back. Why would we even NEED to go back up there anyways?" - Kristoff

"To help him!" - Anna

"Help him with what? We aren't doing any good just sitting up there with him. If we wanted to help him then leaving and maybe talking to King Micheal would be the best thing to do" - Kristoff

Elsa's aurora waned, but she held on this time, listening to Anna and Kristoff argue

Anna sighed in frustration. Kristoff had always wanted to leave the ice castle with them first chance he got, and he was stubbornly sticking to the plan. "We should at the very least thank him for not killing us, and promise to talk to King Micheal when we do leave" - Anna replied

"Oh yeah that'll go well. 'Hey, thanks for not killing us even though we almost beat you to death with a frying pan, we'll put in a good word for King Micheal for ya' " - Kristoff said, much to Anna's anger

"I wasn't going to say it like THAT, whether you like him or not Leo was STILL very patient and nice to us, and he is dealing with a lot of stuff he doesn't deserve right now either" - Anna

"I still maintain that most of his story is fabricated and that he's just trying to get to Elsa" - Kristoff

Anna blew up. "IF HE IS JUST TRYING TO GET TO ELSA THEN WHY WOULD HE JUST LET HER LEAVE THEN?" she yelled, her voice booming through the tunnel.

Elsa's aurora finally faded away, as if it was snuffed out by the wind that was Anna's roar. She summoned it yet again as everyone stared at Anna, who was still livid with Kristoff. Kristoff meanwhile was baffled that Anna had yelled at him like that, and he was also stumped on why Leo would let Elsa and them leave if he was plotting to get to Elsa somehow in the first place. Nobody said a word, and silence hung in the air while everyone's ears were still ringing from Anna's outburst.

Olaf once again was the one to cut the tension.

"So, now what do we do?" - he asked.

Kristoff, somewhat ashamed for antagonizing Anna like he did, stared at the ground and mumbled that he would go with whatever everyone else wanted to do. Olaf was also okay with following the group, while Axis and Anna now both wanted to return to the ice castle.

Elsa though was still on the fence. She was struggling with holding the aurora around her hands while processing all of the information at the same time. Everyone stood by quietly and waited for her to make up her mind.

Elsa finally relaxed a little and her breathing calmed. She stood up a little straighter and collected herself as she arrived at a decision.

"Now that Leo know's we're leaving, it doesn't feel right to still leave. I agree with Kristoff though that we won't be doing anyone any good by staying though, so I believe that we should only go back to thank Leo and say goodbye." - Elsa said.

Anna, initially excited that Elsa didn't feel right about leaving, was let down when she heard that they would return only to formally say goodbye before leaving again.

"So, we're gonna go back just to say goodbye? And then leave again anyways?" - Anna asked, somewhat upset over Elsa's decision.

Elsa glanced at Anna and stared at her in the eyes, hoping she would remember their conversation about why Elsa wanted to leave in the first place, about why Elsa didn't want to figure out her feelings for Leo. Anna remembered very well why Elsa wanted to leave, but Anna knew in her heart that returning to Arendelle and leaving Leo in Houkkaville to eventually die was unacceptable.

The two were at an impasse, but Elsa held authority on the matter, not Anna.

"We will go back to thank him, say goodbye, and promise to try to get King Micheal to stop attacking him. It was a mistake to come here in the first place, and my top priority has always been to get everyone back to Arendelle safely….. So that's what we're going to do" - Elsa stated. She then casually began to march back up the tunnel towards the ice castle. Kristoff, Anna, Olaf, and Axis followed her, none of them particularly happy with the decision themselves.

* * *

><p>Leo finished up some more traps and preparations before limping his way back towards the secret passageway that led to the lookout post. Some of the cuts on his back had reopened with all the stretching he had done to make his traps, and the pain hurt more than ever.<p>

He burst through the door into the storage room/kitchen where he almost ran right into Elsa.

"Elsa! What, what are you guys still doing here!?" Leo asked, bewildered at seeing them

"Leo, we figured out that, that you—" - Elsa started, but Leo already put it together

"Axis! Your orders were to lead them out of here, what happened?" - Leo

"They fished it out of me sir, I tried to stay quiet I did! But I failed..." - Axis said, looking down in shame

"Leo i'm sorry we tried to sneak out, its just that—" - Elsa started again

"Elsa there's no time, you gotta get out of here right now you're all in danger." - Leo quickly said as he walked by Elsa and through the group towards the secret doorway

"What? Wait… What? What are you talking about?" - Elsa asked, confused at the sudden look of alarm in Leo's face.

Leo turned around. "King Micheal is approaching the castle with a legion of fire monsters, you guys have to leave immediately"

* * *

><p>"Orders sir!" A guard bellowed to King Micheal as they had finally reached the entrance of to the ice castle.<p>

"Blast open the doors, we're ending this today" - King Micheal said, looking up at the windows near the top of the castle in anxiety

"Sir! Sir, one of the fire troops didn't make it…." - Another guard said, approaching King Micheal while cradling in his arms one of the fire troops.

King Micheal looked at it, and the soldier handed it to him. One of the smaller fire troops could not stand the cold and the snow, and its flames had been extinguished. It had shrunk close to its original form and its limp body rested on King Micheal's arm, its head lying in the palm of his hand.

King Micheal observed the dead thing on his arm, its rocky skin flaking away as if it were slowly turning into dust. King Micheal raised the body of the dead fire soldier up almost to eye level, and then wrapped his fingers around the top of the dead being's skull.

Slowly, his fingers clamped down harder and harder onto the skull, causing it to crack and cave. Then in one swift motion of brute strength, King Micheal crushed its skull in his hand, its body falling into the snow beneath his feet.

"Only the strong survive…." - King Micheal cryptically said, opening his hand and letting the wind take the skull fragments out of his hand. "Knock those doors down" he said to one of his guards, who fearfully ran off with the orders.

_The Ice King was in for one hell of a fight. _

* * *

><p>The wizard sat in the main room of his hut. He tried to clean up the place after watching King Micheal set off with his new fire troops, but exhaustion from staying up all night working hard got to him. The wizard sat down in an empty section of the wall where it met the floor and tried to doze off. His body and eyelids were exhausted, but his mind was going a mile a minute, refusing to let sleep take hold. The wizard was still confused over why the Ice King would wait until after the Winter Solstice to demand for King Micheal to surrender, it simply didn't make sense. If he wanted to have summoned Elsa's ice powers, if he could even do such a thing, then the time to have done so would have been on the day of the Winter Solstice.<p>

But for some reason he didn't….. Why?

The wizard could not reach an answer, and had finally given up and allowed sleep to reclaim his body. Right as he was about to slip into a slumber though, something else caught his attention. Something that King Micheal said.

When King Micheal first came to the Wizard with the white hairs of the Ice King, he said he was sure that he had been killed.

Then when the transformation spell didn't work, he seemed noticeably upset that the Ice King was indeed still alive.

But then after that, on that same night King Micheal said that the Ice King had taken Elsa hostage and gave King Micheal an option to surrender to him or else he would summon Elsa's ice powers.

The wizards eyes shot wide open, a far more concerning puzzle suddenly enveloping his thoughts.

_Why would King Micheal say he was sure that the Ice King had died when he later said that the Ice King had taken Elsa hostage and had given demands for surrender?_

The Ice King stood up, very alarmed at why King Micheal would say such a thing. _If the Ice King had told King Micheal that he was going to somehow harvest Elsa's powers, than King Micheal MUST have known that the Ice King was still alive! __So then why the hell would King Micheal still have wanted me to perform the transformation spell if he knew that the Ice King was still alive? There's no possible way the transformation spell would have worked in the first place if the Ice King was still alive, and King Micheal knows that_

The wizard strode over to his table and put the white hairs King Micheal had given him under a magnifying glass. This simply wasn't adding up, and the wizard now began to wonder how King Micheal had even acquired some hairs from the Ice King's head in the first place.

He opened up one blood-shot eye as wide as he could to study the hairs he was holding. They were as white as the snow outside, and they contained magical properties since the transformation spell produced a puff of smoke, something that wouldn't have happened if they were just ordinary hairs. The wizard studied the hairs carefully, they were the only potential clue that he had, and they must explain why King Micheal's story isn't adding up.

The wizard observed the ends of the hairs, looking for any irregularity. He saw on one of the hairs a little white dot at the end of them, which signified that this hair had been pulled out from the root. All the rest of the hairs though did not have this quality, in fact every hair but that one strand was missing the tiny root at the end of it.

_Had these hairs been cut?_

The wizard set the hairs and arched under the table for a pinch of gerullium, a powder used for the reassembly and repair of small things and items. He tossed a pinch of it onto the hairs to see if one or two of them would start moving, maybe revealing where the hairs had come from or how they had been acquired.

Instead of one or two hairs moving though, ALL of the hairs began to move, rolling and sliding across the table length to length before attaching themselves to each other from top to bottom. The Wizard gasped in amazement as all of the hairs slowly reassembled themselves to form into a single long, white hair.

The Wizard held up the hair between two fingers to confirm that the smaller hairs had indeed fused with each other to make one long strand, and the hairs held together. King Micheal had somehow acquired one very long strand of hair, and had cut it into several smaller strands.

The Wizard admired the length of the hair, impressed at how long it was. It was then though that he made a terrible realization, a realization that shook him to his core.

_The Ice King's hair wasn't that long!_…. In fact, his hair was fairly short! Far too short for this hair the Wizard was holding to be from the Ice King. This hair _couldn't _have come from the Ice King, it must have come from someone else.

And there was only one other person in town who had long, white hair with magical properties….

The Wizard stumbled and collapsed against the wall behind him, as he questioned what on Earth was going on. He replayed the events of that night in his head and pieced together everything he had discovered. The Wizard then pondered several questions in a row before asking another question to himself that was more concerning than all the rest of them combined

_Why had King Micheal taken one of Elsa's hairs?  
>Why had he told me that the hair belonged to the Ice King?<br>__Why had King Micheal tried to use the transformation spell using Elsa's hairs?  
><em>_.  
><em>.  
>.<p>

_Why was King Micheal trying to harvest Elsa's ice powers!?_


	23. Chapter 23: There is no Good in Goodbyes

Leo limped as quickly as he could up the stairs to see how close King Micheal's fire-troops were while everyone else called out incomprehensible questions to him. Leo looked out and saw that within 5 minutes, King Micheal and his fire troops would be at the doors to the castle. He hobbled back down the stairs trying to not trip, he already made all of the preparations he had planned to implement when an attack involving fire-troops would occur, but he still wanted to improvise as many tricks and traps as possible for what would surely be a hard fight. Pain shot through his back with every awkward step, and the pain would likely only get worse when going through an actual battle.

Elsa, concerned at both how much pain Leo was visibly enduring and how feverishly he was preparing for battle, quietly followed him around while everyone else fished for answers.

"Master, what do you wish for me to do?" - Axis

"Leo, how many of them are there? Do you know when they'll be here?" - Anna

"How much danger are we in right now being here with you?" - Kristoff

"Where is the bathroom again?" - Olaf

Leo finally stopped in his tracks and attempted to address all of the questions at the same time. "King Micheal is here with about a dozen and a half to 2 dozen fire troops. They'll be here soon, and there is going to be a very big battle. You guys need to get out of here as soon as possible otherwise you all could very well end up being killed."

"We can't just leave you here on your own though!" - Anna protested

"Anna, if King Micheal sees that you and everyone else here are still alive and are also NOT my prisoners, he will assume that you've defected to my side and are helping me. That will give him enough reason to not allow you to leave Houkkaville at all, and in fact keep you prisoner up here with me or simply kill you as well…" - Leo

"So then we should leave, like, right now, yes?" - Kristoff

"Yes. Axis! Lead them through the tunnels quickly and help them sneak through Houkkaville to get to their ship so that they can get out of here. I'll keep King Micheal and his forces occupied for as long as possible so that you'll have minimal resistance when trying to leave Houkkaville." - Leo

"Whoa, wait a minute, wait….. Seriously, where's the bathroom?" - Olaf

"Olaf shush!" - Elsa

"So you're just gonna stay here while we sneak out and leave you here in Houkkaville forever? That just doesn't seem right!" - Anna

"You don't have a choice, you guys need to get out of here. Axis, do you understand your orders?" - Leo

"Yes master!" - Axis said, adopting a battlefield mentality and saluting Leo with one of his arms.

"Here, I'll light up the tunnel for you guys so that you can go through the tunnel quickly" - Leo said, picking up his special rock from off a bookshelf and making his way towards the tunnels

"Leo wait…. Look, I'm sorry we tried to sneak out, we should have—" - Elsa started

"Its okay, its fine, no hard feelings, whats more important is that you need to leave here as soon as possible, there's no time to lose!" - Leo interrupted, bashing the special rock into the side of the tunnel. The glowing ice once again leapt out from the rock and crisscrossed all over the tunnel, illuminating it once again. "Axis do you think you can get these guys safely through Houkkaville without being spotted?"

"Pffft, that'll be easy" - Axis confidently replied, scurrying down the tunnel as fast as his now 7 legs could carry him.

"I don't feel very good in just leaving you here though Leo" - Anna said as everyone stood near the entrance to the tunnels.

"I'll be fine, and you guys can't be spotted here otherwise you'll be suspected of assisting the enemy, or treason, maybe both, I don't even know." - Leo said, turning to go back inside the castle.

"Leo wait—" - Elsa started, an idea sneaking into her head

"I'll be fine Elsa, don't worry about me" - Leo

"Come with us!" - Elsa yelled out, upset over being interrupted yet again.

Everyone stopped in their tracks as Elsa's words hung in the air. Elsa herself couldn't believe she had actually said it, but she decided to follow her heart and do what she felt was the right thing to do.

"What the hell do you mean, 'come with you'?" - Leo asked, bewildered that Elsa even said such a thing.

"Yeah seriously" - Kristoff added.

Elsa tried to keep her heart rate down as ice inadvertently slid into her fingertips. She was nervous about a number of things, but was keeping a grip on everything at the moment.

"Leo, you shouldn't be here more than anyone else in here. You're not evil, you're not a monster, and you told me before that one of the reasons you never left this place is because you didn't have anywhere else to go. But if you come with us, we can take you far away and far out of reach of anything King Micheal could do to you." - Elsa pleaded, choosing her words carefully but passionately.

"Elsa….. You're nuts" - Leo

"I know…." Elsa retorted, appealing to emotion rather than trying to logically explain things like she had tirelessly done so many times in the past. "But we can't just leave you here. You have the chance to leave this place now and we can protect you, Arendelle can protect you."

Kristoff was livid at what he was hearing, while Anna and Olaf were elated. Axis meanwhile was dumbfounded at the proposal and waited for Leo's reply.

Leo thought it over. Looking down at the floor, up towards the battle room, and at Elsa and the rest of the group over and over again. His mind was going a mile a minute, and he was increasingly paranoid at how close King Micheal's fire troops must have been.

After weighing his options, he came up with a plan, and made his decision.

"Alright..… Alright I'll come with you… But we have to move fast!" - Leo said.

Everyone quickly exited the castle and made their way down into the tunnels.

"Blast open the doors, we're ending this today" - King Micheal repeated

"Sir, we can just open them you know" a guard muttered

"Simply opening the doors though sends a much different message compared to knocking it down, so knock them down"

"Yes sir, what are our plans regarding Queen Elsa?" - the guard asked

"Oh her?… I'll see to it that she is taken care of…." - King Micheal quietly replied,staring up at the towering doors to the ice castle.

Everyone collectively made their way through the tunnels as they scrambled as fast as they could without falling over themselves. The tunnel leading to Houkkaville was somewhat steeper than the tunnel leading out to the mountain range behind the castle, so everyone became preoccupied with watching their own step, with Leo having the most problems due to his back pain. Elsa tried to keep close by him to make sure that if he fell she could break his fall, but every so often she would have to stop completely and wait for Leo to catch up.

Leo once again had fallen behind and for a brief moment, nobody had noticed. Rather then try to speed up and join the rest of the pack, Leo instead stopped in his tracks and began to twist his hands around as ice leapt from his fingers. He then flung his hands back and forth, then up and down repeatedly as he carefully crafted bars of ice throughout the tunnel.

Elsa turned back at the sound of ice materializing, and gasped in shock. Leo was sealing off the tunnel with him on one side, and her and everyone else on the other.

"Leo!" - Elsa cried out, turning around and running back up the tunnel to stop Leo form whatever madness had taken over him. Anna and Olaf turned around at Elsa's yelp, with Axis and Kristoff only turning around after noticing the collective sound of footsteps suddenly stopped.

"Leo! Leo what are you doing!?" - Elsa yelled, astonished. She grabbed at tone of he bars of ice that Leo had crafted and yanked at it. It was as sturdy as steel though, and as she pointlessly tried to break through the bar, Leo had finished criss-crossing the tunnel with dozens of bars of ice that stretched from wall-to-wall and ceiling-to-floor. It was as if Leo had created his own prison cell with bars made of ice instead of steel.

"Elsa, don't, you have to get out of here" - Leo replied as everyone else had made their way back up the tunnel towards Leo

"Leo, ah-why?" - Anna

"Master what is wrong?" - Axis

"I can't come with you Elsa, I can't go to Arendelle with you" - Leo said, resting his hands on two of the horizontal ice bars as he stared at Elsa.

"W-well why not?" - Olaf

"Master they can protect us!" - Axis

"Axis you know why I can't go with them….. Think about it…." - Leo

"There's nothing to think of Leo!" - Elsa angrily cried out, frustrated at how difficult Leo was making everything. Inadvertently messing with her heart was one thing, and allowing her to leave knowing her intentions was another, but this was just madness. She clenched her eyes as she tried to break one fo the ice bars to no avail

"Elsa, there's something you need to know that I probably should have told you a while ago…" - Leo

Elsa cracked open an eye as she still tried to apply pressure to one of the bars of ice.

Leo sighed. "Why do you think King Micheal is so hellbent on killing me?"

Elsa relaxed a little as she recalled everything Leo had told her. "He blames you for creating this eternal winter that you didn't actually cause, and he's trying to kill you to end it."

Leo shook his head. "King Micheal knows that I didn't cause this winter, and that its always been like this here" he clarified

Elsa gave up on trying to pry open one of the ice bars and focused on what Leo was revealing to her. "Well then why DOES he want you dead then?" - She angrily asked, upset over always being misled while failing to break through the barrier between her and Leo

"King Micheal wants to kill me to harvest my ice powers for himself" - Leo

Everyone's eyes widened a little at hearing such a thing. "How, how is that even possible?" - Kristoff wondered out loud, saying what everyone else was thinking.

Leo clarified again. "The wizard knows of a spell that can transfer ice powers from one person to another, but the original person who has the ice powers has to be killed in order for the spell to work. King Micheal wants to harvest my powers and end the winter himself, he only claims that I started the winter and that killing me will end it to justify his crusade against me to the people of Houkkaville."

Anna's gaze shot back and forth between Elsa and Leo, analyzing the reactions of each of them. Elsa broke off her gaze and stared towards the floor as she absorbed everything Leo told her while her breathing calmed down, while Leo's stature slumped as if he had been caught in a lie.

"If King Micheal wants you dead for your ice powers, then why does that mean you can't come to Arendelle with us?" - Anna

"My ice powers is what he wants more than anything in the world, and he will stop at nothing to try to get them. He went all the way to Arendelle to get you to come here, he'll go back to Arendelle to try to get us if he knows that I'm there." - Leo

"But we have an ARMY Leo, an actual, well armed army and navy who can protect you from anything King Micheal attempts" - Elsa

"Elsa, it's not just me who is at risk now. You would be in it too. If King Micheal can't get my powers, he'll try to come after yours" - Leo

"But we still have a powerful army and navy in Arendelle Leo. We can—" - Elsa started

"Elsa, you're a Queen, you have a responsibility to—" - Leo interrupted

"We can protect you!" - Elsa interrupted him back, realizing where Leo was going with this and upset over how it would conclude.

"Elsa! You are the QUEEN. You have a duty to protect your people, to protect your family, and protect yourself. King Micheal will stop at nothing to try to kill me, and you can't put Arendelle in danger just for me. It's your duty to put you kingdom before everything else" - Leo

Elsa clenched her eyes shut in anger as Leo put her in check-mate. She could never justify risking her kingdom and even herself for Leo's own safety, it would go against everything she had learned as Queen. But she couldn't just leave Leo behind.

"Leo, we can't just leave you behind" - Elsa

"Elsa…" - Leo calmly said, laying his hands on Elsa's. The warmth from his touch once again seeped through her, this time calming the ice that was pooling in her fingertips as her emotions slowly started to boil. Elsa looked back into Leo's eyes, which was almost as calming as his touch. "Elsa…. You have to go….. I'll be fine"

Elsa shook her head. "I can't just leave you here to die Leo!" - Elsa cried out, almost sobbing a little.

"And I can't just put all of your lives at risk just so that I can be free…. People always want freedom but don't know if they can pay the price that freedom costs, and I don't want to be free if all of us always have to be looking over our shoulder for King Micheal for the rest of our lives…. So you have to go, and I have to stay" - Leo calmly stated, almost in a whisper.

Elsa pulled away her hands from the bars and out from leo's, and she immediately regretted doing so. The gentle sting of warmth left from her hands and she could feel the ice slide through hr veins as she realized what Leo was telling her.

"Leo please, please…. Please come with us" - Elsa pleaded, her voice cracking a little. She stood up straighter and rested her hands on the next ice bar higher. "We can't just leave you here" she added.

"You'll be fine Elsa" - Leo said with a calm smile, trying to reassure her. It only upset her even more though, because those were the exact same last words her father had said to her years earlier, and Leo's face had the same look of unknowing confidence her father also had when saying those same words.

Elsa couldn't hold in the tears anymore. She knew for a certain that if they left Leo here, he would likely die. She couldn't prove it, but she still knew it, and she felt helpless to try to stop it from happening the same way she felt helpless in trying to stop her parents from going on that voyage.

Leo put his hands on Elsa's once again as Elsa slumped down into the ice bars, defeated. The calm warmth in her hands didn't remedy her emotions this time though, there was too much boiling over this time.

"Elsa, thank you for believing in me when no one else has, and thank you for wanting to risk so much to help me. You've come so far to try to fix a situation that you didn't have to become involved in, but you were stepping into something way bigger than you could have ever imagined. You have to go to Houkkaville and get on the first ship out of here before King Micheal's men get to you." - Leo said over Elsa's sobbing.

"Leo, man, even I think that we can't just leave you here like this. It's just not right" - Kristoff said, much to Anna's surprise. Kristoff had almost despised Leo the entire time he had been here, but seeing Leo not want to risk all of their lives for his own freedom finally swayed him into seeing Leo as a half-decent person.

"Kristoff, do you think you can handle King Micheal's guards should you run into them?" - Leo asked

Kristoff was caught off by the question but quickly recollected himself. "Pfft, I can take them easy if they get in my way." - He confidently answered.

"Good, then make sure that Elsa and Anna get home safe. I'm counting on you on this one man" - Leo replied.

"Master, I will happily stay with you and assist you in your fight with King Micheal!" - Axis said, scurrying through the bars of ice to join Leo on the other side.

"Axis, I need you to go with Elsa and help them get out of here. You can go with them back to Arendelle" - Leo said, bending down and allowing Axis to crawl onto the back of his hand.

Axis was aghast. "What? I, you want me to, I can't leave you too! Master!" - Axis sputtered.

"Axis I need you to help Elsa and everyone else navigate through Houkkaville. Nobody knows how to maneuver through town without being seen like you, and only you can help them now" - Leo said, extending his hand through the bars of ice and setting Axis on the ground on the other side.

"Master please! This is… This is madness!" - Axis protested.

"Axis you've been the best servant and soldier I ever could have asked for, and I should have treated you much better than I have. But there is no reason for you to stay here with me forever, King Micheal only wants me dead." - Leo

Axis was now even more upset than Elsa was.

"Master please! I've been helping you my entire life! You created me! I cannot just leave you!" - Axis begged.

"Axis, you are to go with Elsa back to Arendelle and stay there. That is an order. Do you understand?" - Leo said, keeping calm as Axis had a meltdown.

Axis scurried back through the ice bars to Leo's side and tried to crawl up the tunnel as fast as possible.

"Sir I cannot leave you! I cannot leave you! A good soldier never abandons his master!" Axis wailed. Leo flicked his wrist and Axis lurched to a stop, his back end suspended in the air as his front half continued to try to scurry up the tunnel. Since Axis was an icy creation of Leo, he could still control Axis like a regular piece of ice, and Leo calmly moved Axis through the air and back through the bars of ice back onto the other side. Axis pleaded the entire time for Leo to stop, but Leo didn't relent.

"Axis there's no use in everyone in this tunnel dying today. You need to lead them to their ship and then you can join them as they sail to Arendelle. I may not get my freedom Axis, but that doesn't mean you have to throw away yours as well." - Leo

"M-m-m-master. I d-d-don't want my f-f-freedom if-f y-y-you can't have yours too!" - Axis stammered through tears.

"Olaf, I need you to keep an eye on Axis and help him get through this okay?" - Leo said as he moved Axis in Olaf's direction.

Olaf nodded and outstretched his arms to grab Axis, using what few fingers he had to gently secure him before Leo released his grasp.

"Master you can barely walk! How will you fight King Micheal and his fire troops?" - Axis said, collecting himself after a gentle hug from Olaf.

"Axis you act like this is the first time Ive fought King Micheal after being mauled by a bear…" - Leo calmly retorted with a casual chuckle. "I'll be fine, and you'll be fine."

Leo directed his gaze back to Elsa, who was now kneeling down with her hands still grasping one of the bars of ice. He knelt down to eye level with her and with one of his hands, he gently reached through the ice bars and raised Elsa's chin up. Tears had welled in both corners of her eyes and she was focusing all of her energy in covering it up and not letting them out.

"I know it goes against your nature to not help those who are in need…. But I don't need your help Elsa. I'll be fine." - Leo calmly whispered to her

Elsa's bottom lip quivered. "You're lying" she whispered back

Leo sighed, Elsa was too smart to fall for something like that. "I know…" he finally replied. Even he couldn't think of a way to make Elsa think he had a chance against King Micheal, his back flared in pain just squatting down to talk to her.

Leo wiped away a tear that trekked down Elsa's cheek after admitting that he was lying. Leo had never once seen someone so upset over the idea of him being hurt, let alone someone as fascinating as Elsa. "I know I'm lying, I just don't want you to be here for whatever happens though"

A gigantic blast suddenly shook the floor and the walls as a distant boom echoed through the tunnel.

"Holy crap, what was that?" - Anna

"Jesus, it sounds like they burst through the damn doors!" - Axis said, suddenly regaining his composure at the sound of the distant boom.

"They must finally be at the gates. You guys have to leave now!" - Leo said, leaping to his feet and wincing in pain as he did so.

"Leo we can't—" - Elsa pleaded

"Kristoff, Olaf, make sure that everyone else gets through Houkkaville in one piece alright?" - Leo sternly said, as if he were giving orders.

Kristoff and Olaf nodded as Kristoff helped Elsa to her feet. Olaf sat Axis on his head like a hat while Anna tugged at Elsa's hand. "I got this" - Anna confidently remarked, growing very defensive for the safety over everyone else after hearing the big boom.

"Ok good. It's been a pleasure meeting all of you guys, and I'll fight like never before knowing that it'll help you guys get out of here." - Leo said as he quickly made his way up the tunnel.

Anna tugged hard at Elsa's hand as she led her down the tunnel, with Olaf carrying Axis and Kristoff leading the charge. Elsa kept looking back as Anna tugged her down the tunnel, trying to get one last glimpse of Leo before he disappeared out of sight.

Leo looked back only a single time, meeting Elsa's gaze. Even though he had instructed them to leave and was moving up the tunnel himself, Elsa looked at Leo like he was being left behind, like she was leaving him behind, locked up behind icy prison bars and being left to certain death.

Anna pulled Elsa around a corner in the tunnel, and just like that, he was gone.


	24. Chapter 24: The Last Stand Part 1

The doors still stood, despite the collective blasts of fire from the fire troops.

"Knock them down! I want those doors lying on the floor in a million pieces!" King Micheal yelled, anxious as to what Leo was doing inside in preparation for the battle. He had likely seen them coming from a mile away, and God knows what crazy plan he concocted this time. His maze was a real doozy, but you could never predict what fresh hell lied inside those doors.

The fire troops all flung their arms forward again, unleashing powerful blasts of fire that plowed into the gigantic ice doors of the castle. Once again the doors still stood, defiant towards the fire blasts and King Micheal. King Micheal ordered his troops to fire over and over until the doors fell down, unaware that by doing so he was actually exhausting his troops before they even got inside the castle. The long trek through snow up to the mountain sapped lots of their energy already, and King Micheal's arrogance was only sapping their strength even more.

"Again!" King Micheal yelled, and the fire troops all fired yet another blast towards the doors.

This time they fell.

The left door's midsection had been compromised enough where it collapsed downwards under its own weight. The right door on the other hand had been hit near its hinges, and it simply fell backwards into the castle, shaking it with a tremendous bang as it smashed into the floor into a billion pieces.

The moment had finally arrived "ATTAAAACK!" - King Micheal bellowed, raising his sword towards the entrance of the castle. All the fire troops poured into the building, followed by King Micheal and his guards

* * *

><p>Leo stood near the door that led into the rest of the castle, watching from inside the battle room as the tremendous ice doors fell to the floor. While such a powerful entrance may have shaken any other fighter, the Ice King felt no fear due to not having a heart, and he was as determined as ever to fight until the very end.<p>

King Micheal's fire troops poured through the busted entrance, with 8 of them being of tremendous size while a dozen others were more human sized. They all looked as if they were built from rock with their insides consisting of lava, and while the bigger ones looked more rock then fire, the smaller ones were just the opposite, almost completely engulfed in flames with no rocky skin to observe.

King Micheal snuck in last with his usual legion of guards, and he and Leo locked eyes. King Micheal was once again fearful of what nefarious traps that Leo had planned, Leo could see it in his stare. Even with his legion of fire troops that King Micheal was always trying to get, he still could not get over his fear of Leo and his powers.

And fear is always a nice ally to have when facing a long-time enemy.

"CHAAAAARGE!" - King Micheal bellowed, and the behemoths charged forward while the smaller fire troops spread out.

Leo eyed the floor he had marked with fresh ice prior to their entrance. The floor marked by ice lied just above the basement room that Leo had prepared his first series of traps, but he would have to time it perfectly.

He got into position, wincing as yet another jolt of pain shot through his back, and waited until the behemoths were on top of his patch of fresh ice. It didn't take long.

The behemoths charged right through it, making no note of the patch of ice beneath them, and Leo shot his arms downwards and behind him. Pain shot through his back like never before, and the floor covered in slick ice suddenly gave way, plunging the first wave of behemoths into the basement below, which Leo had populated with gigantic shards of ice angled up at the floor above it.

The behemoths cried out in agony as the shards cut shot through them. Molten rock poured out of their bodies like blood, causing several of the shards to break off and start to melt, but the damage had been done. Just like that, in a matter of seconds and in one swift motion from Leo, half of King Micheal's powerful behemoths were dead.

The second wave of behemoths, making no note of their brethren dying terrible deaths, leapt into the room below and used the bodies of the dead behemoths to leap-frog their way towards Leo. Leo retreated back closer to the door and got into position once again, preparing his second series of traps. They would probably not be as effective as the the first series, but it would still be disastrous for King Micheal and his troops if executed perfectly.

The remaining behemoths climbed back into the battle room and continued to charge towards Leo, where he waited for all of them to emerge before springing his second trap. The last one crawled out, and Leo threw his arms in a grand motion towards the floor as they barreled towards him.

Above Leo, and above everyone else, the entire lookout post became unhinged and plunged into the battle room below towards the charging behemoths. Leo had turned the lookout hallway into the worlds biggest hailstorm, as chunks of ice the size of the behemoths themselves suddenly pummeled them from above.

One large chunk pulverized the head of one behemoth, causing molten rock to spray everywhere, while several other chunks bulldozed another behemoth into nothingness. A third behemoth met the same fate as the second one, helplessly being crushed to death by gigantic blocks of ice as they fell from the ceiling.

The collapse of the lookout hall shook the building harder than the knocking down of the doors, sending off a small earthquake through the mountains and nearby surroundings.

* * *

><p>"Holy hell what was that!?" - Anna yelled as the tunnel suddenly shook left and right. Everyone had lost their footing as what felt like an earthquake roared through the tunnels, but none of them sustained injuries.<p>

"Master must be giving them hell up there. We must keep going!" - Axis said as he scurried down the tunnel.

"Are you sure we shouldn't go help him?" - Elsa asked. Being jolted off her feet by the blast traumatized Elsa the most, but everyone else maintained their composure and their determination to leave. Kristoff grabbed Elsa by her hand and continued to pull her down the tunnel without saying a word while Anna kept repeating the same thing over and over:

"Everything will be okay, everything will be okay"

* * *

><p>The dust hadn't even settled before Leo tried to make his way on top of the mountain of rubble he had created. King Micheal would certainly be mortified that he had lost all of his heavy troops not even a minute into the battle, but there were still a dozen or so smaller fighters that Leo still had to eliminate, and Leo wanted to act while he still had the element of surprise on his side.<p>

As Leo made his way up the rubble though, one of the behemoths lurched forward from out of the rubble and flung Leo onto his back. Leo had assumed the collapsing lookout tunnel had taken them all out, but one of them had survived.

Leo cried out in pain as he landed hard on his back, while the behemoth who had plowed out of the rubble got back to its feet, having tripped from breaking out of the rubble. Temporarily crippled in pain, the behemoth got to its feet before Leo did and had started to charge right at Leo before he could react.

Leo saw the attack coming and did what he did best, he improvised.

Leo flung out a hand and coated the floor between him and the last remaining behemoth with slippery ice. The behemoth continued to charge full speed ahead onto the slick ice, and it quickly lost its footing. Leo turned the fresh patch of ice into his own slip-and-slide, and slid right underneath the behemoths legs as it tumbled head over heels into the back wall behind him, smashing through and creating a behemoth sized hole into the rest of the castle.

"ALL TROOPS ATTACK!" - King Micheal called out from the other side of the room, fearing that Leo had taken out the last of his behemoths. The dozen smaller fire troops leapt into the action and began to pepper the room with shots of fire, quickly advancing towards the pile of rubble and the huge hole in the wall in the back of the room.

Leo retreated towards the gaping hole that led to the rest of the castle while creating ice shards near the base of the pile of rubble. He created as many as he could all while keeping his eyes peeled for the first site of the smaller fire troops towards the corner of the room. Two of them leaped over the pile of rubble and landed right on the spikes Leo had created, but many of the others had slowed as they advanced over the rubble.

_'These guys must be a tad smarter than the others'_ Leo thought to himself as he made his way through the hole in the wall. He went to go down the spiral staircase to the floor below, but the behemoth had plowed through it after it crashed through the wall, and Leo was temporarily trapped between the encroaching fire troops and the floor 20 feet below him.

One fire troop got Leo in its site and fired a blast at him. It caught a piece of the wall just next to him, but the blast caused Leo to be thrown towards the floor below him.

Leo tried to react by creating something to break his fall, but he couldn't move fast enough, and he landed hard on the ground on his side. Leo screamed as both his back and the shoulder he landed on erupted in pain, but he had to stay focused, he was still in a tough fight.

Leo slowly got onto his feet, and so did the behemoth that had crashed through the wall and landed on the floor nearby.

'_Crap!' _Leo thought as the behemoth got to its feet and let out a tremendous roar. One by one the smaller fire troops made its way into the room and began firing blasts of fire at Leo.

Leo again reacted to defend himself, and this time he succeeded, as walls of ice shot out of the floor and absorbed the incoming blasts of fire. Leo looked around for anything that could help him, but all he saw was a day-snowstorm raging outside the window, which somehow hadn't been punctured by the behemoth as it barreled and fell into the living room.

Leo hatched an idea, and after defending himself with a few more walls of ice, he created one more wall between himself and the window and slid into the wall. The behemoth took a swap at Leo and missed, and using his own momentum, Leo fired a powerful blast of ice at the window and shattered it.

The air in the room was quickly sucked out into the raging storm outside caused the pressure in the room to drop dramatically. Leo was almost sucked out of the room himself, but he held himself inside by anchoring himself agains the ice wall he created between himself and the window.

The fire troops were not so lucky. Several of them were immediately sucked out into the storm outside and plunged to their deaths far, far below. All 6 who were in the room before he blew out the window were sucked out, and 2 more that came in after the window had been blown out were also sucked out into the storm outside. The other 4 stayed in the battle room and waited until the pressure in the living room matched the pressure from outside, which would cause the sucking motion to cease.

The behemoth was the only one other than Leo to survive the black-hole strength force of the storm outside, its massive weight the only thing holding it inside the building. Several of the pots hanging on the walls had crashed into the behemoth as they were sucked out into the storm outside, some of them hitting the behemoth in the eyes and temporarily blinding it.

Leo, thinking fast, once again slicked the ice underneath the behemoth while the storm still pulled the air out of the room. Its weight was now useless in keeping it anchored, the behemoth fell onto its stomach and slid across the ice as the storm pulled it outside. The behemoth tried to grab for anything to stop itself, including the icy ground itself, but a couple blasts of ice from Leo sent the last behemoth outside where it also plunged to its death.

Half the castle had been destroyed, and about 80% of King Micheal's fire army was now dead, as only 4 small fire troops remained. But now Leo was out of tricks, and he would actually have to fight to defeat the last four fire troops.

The sucking motion finally relented, and the storm now pounded the inside of the castle, pushing Leo further into the castle rather than trying to pull him out now. Leo got to his feet and struggled to keep his stance as the last four fire troops entered the torn up living room. The raging storm pelted them with ice cold wind, casing their flames to flicker enough so that Leo could now see large amounts of their rocky skin. The winds of the storm itself was weakening them, and the fire troops were still tired from their painful trek up the mountain in the first place. Not only that, but the flurries of snow that the storm flung into the exposed room obscured their vision of Leo, while Leo could still see the fire troops by the very bright glow of their fiery skin.

Leo couldn't possibly have wished for a better home-field advantage.

Wasting no time, Leo fired a blast of ice with both hands towards the 4 fire troops near the doorway. It caught one of them in the head and flung it back into the battle room, but the other three dodged it and leapt onto the ground 20 feet beneath them, landing hard but breaking their fall with shots of fire at the ground. They all got to their feet and strained to locate Leo through the storm.

Having slid towards the entrance to the basement, located directly under the platform that led into the battle room. Leo spotted one of the fire troops that had landed directly between himself and the shattered remains of the window. With a powerful blast of ice with both hands, he blasted the fire troop through the room and out the window, sending it to its death with its many brethren.

The other 2 fire troops saw the blue blast of ice shoot out from leo's hands, and both of them fired Ice blasts at Leo. Both missed, but Leo backed through the door into the basement that was populated with the remains of dead behemoths in the very back. He kept his hands aimed at the entrance back into the living room, but he looked back to watch for anybody try to get him from behind.

If he had to make a last stand, this was certainly the place to do it

* * *

><p>Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Axis emerged from the tunnel. The exit led out to a winding, small crevice that could only be seen if you were to almost step into it from above. Axis led the gang through the crevice to the exit, where the gang emerged to see Houkkaville as it got pounded by a blizzard that had made its way in from the mountains.<p>

"It'll be tough, but the storm should provide us with cover to make it through town without being spotted!" - Axis called out to everyone.

"Oh my god, you guys, look at that!" - Anna said, pointing with an outstretched arm up towards the mountains.

Elsa stood next to Anna and gasped, following her arm to where it was aiming. Just above the wizard's hut and a stretch of rock was Leo's castle, which was what Anna was pointing at. Despite the storm moving in, you could see as clear as day that the castle doors had been smashed open, and that the observation hall above the entrance to the castle had collapsed into the castle.

"Oh no" - Elsa said, fearing the worst as she eyed the immense damage.

"Did they knock down half the castle?" - Olaf asked

"That big bang we heard was probably the sound of something up there collapsing" - Kristoff correctly speculated

"You think he's okay?" - Axis asked, now sharing Elsa's concern over Leo's well being.

"Sure. Probably. Yeah. Lets go come on." - Kristoff said, making his way towards Houkkaville in the distance.

Nobody else followed though. Elsa and Axis were now very concerned over Leo, Anna was astounded at the damage to the ice castle, and Olaf was waiting for everyone else to start moving as well.

"Guys! Come on now is our chance!" - Kristoff called out after noticing that no one followed him.

Olaf turned around and scurried towards Kristoff, but stopped halfway to look back at everyone else. Axis was still mortified at seeing Leo's castle, Leo's home and his home as well, lying in ruin, while Elsa looked up for any sign that Leo might be okay. Anna glanced at Elsa and Elsa glanced back, both of them wore faces of worry at what was happening up there. All three of them were fearing the worst.

"Guys, maybe we should go back"

The words hung in the air, mostly because _Anna_ was the one who said it, not Elsa.

"What?" - Kristoff

"What?" - Axis

"What?" - Elsa

"SHE SAID MAYBE WE SHOULD GO BACK" - Olaf

"I'm... I'm just having second thoughts about ditching him and, stuff... It didn't even seem like the right thing to do the first time, and it definitely doesn't feel like it was the right thing to do now" - Anna

"We're not ditching him Anna, he actually _ordered_ us to leave, on account of King Micheal was coming to attack, remember?" - Kristoff

"He was just trying to protect us! He may really need our help!" - Anna said, defending Leo and walking up towards Kristoff with Olaf and Axis following

"Well what good could we do if we went back?" - Kristoff

"Technically speaking, the first time we went up there we actually DID defeat Leo…." - Olaf chimed in, remembering how Anna knocked Leo out with a frying pan the first time

"He said that fire troops were approaching, do you think you could just knock them out with a frying pan too?" - Kristoff

"Probably" - Olaf

"Guys look, it doesn't feel right leaving Leo up there on his own, maybe we should go back and help him. He certainly wasn't in good shape to take on fire soldiers, he was limping all over the place!" - Anna

"He was fine" - Kristoff

"Kristoff, he was mauled by a BEAR... AND a wolf... And... I, may or may not, have, also, hit him with a frying pan... again..." - Anna

"I've been with my master for a long time, and I can't recall a single instance where he had to fight a battle as tough as that one while being injured the way he is. I'm only here because he ordered me to come with you, and if you guys go back, then i'm coming with you!" - Axis

"There's no use in going back because we aren't doing any good staying up there! Elsa said that herself! My goal is to keep you two safe, and the best way to do that is to sneak through this storm to the ship and get home as fast as we possibly can. Leo told us that King Micheal wants his ice powers and will stop at nothing to get it, so maybe its best if we let Leo sort this out once and for all, on his own" - Kristoff

"He's too proud to ask for help! Men don't like to ask for help for anything, that doesn't mean we should just leave them and hope they sort it out on their own!" - Axis

"Elsa what do you think?" - Anna said, turning towards Elsa who was unusually quiet.

Elsa wasn't standing where she was a few seconds ago though, she was already making her way back up the tunnel to save Leo.


	25. Chapter 25: The Last Stand Part 2

Leo set his feet and prepared himself for the two fire troops still in the living room, while checking behind him every now and again. The gigantic opening in the ceiling where the first wave of behemoths fell to their deaths was both another entry for King Micheal's forces to attack him, and as a possible escape route from the two fire troops still trying to get him.

They stood at the door and took up positions behind each side of the frame, blindly firing blasts of fire into the basement at Leo. Many of the blasts missed Leo by several feet, while others only barely whizzed by without hitting him. Others that would have hit him were skillfully blocked as Leo crafted ice walls to absorb the blasts. Leo didn't have to go on the offensive just yet, the storm raging outside was pounding the two fire troops with snow and freezing wind, sapping them of what little strength they had left, so all he had to do was wait them out.

The blasts began to come less frequently and less ferociously, as the fire troops quickly lost their stamina. They had originally peppered Leo with fire as much as possible, now though they could barely get in a single blast every 5 seconds. Leo waited until he successfully counted to 10 in between shots before he improvised.

The two fire troops near the door hadn't moved much, so Leo waited until one more fired at him before he made a grand scooping-motion from the floor towards the door with his arms, sending two gigantic shards of ice into the walls on either side of the doorframe where each fire troop was standing. The shards pierced right into the wall, impaling both of the fire troops on either side of the door, molten rock oozing out of their massive chest cavities. The ice melted and the bodies of both fire troops hit the floor.

Leo sighed in relief, but his smirk vanished as cracks from where the icicles punctured the walls began to spread in every direction. Leo had made the shards too big, and shooting them into the wall compromised the strength of the walls that held the battle room up overhead.

The doorframe gave out first, collapsing into pieces on top of the bodies fo the two fire troops and dragging down the wall of the battle room overhead with it. The cracks from the doorframe spread out along the wall, causing more and more of it to give way as it buckled under the immense weight it could no longer hold. Leo sprinted towards the back of the room near the dead behemoths as more and more of the walls and ceiling collapsed, causing huge chunks of ice to fall into the basement as a result. When Leo had caused the lookout hall to crash into the floor of the battle room, it further compromised the strength of the walls and floor nearby, and soon it all began to cave in.

_The entire castle was collapsing_

Leo put his arms over his head and slid underneath the bodies of the dead behemoths, hoping that their rocky bodies would provide some kind of protection from the falling ice. The walls in the basement near the door continued to crack and cave in, the floor of the battle room above those walls gave way as well, and then the very walls of the battle room supported by the basement underneath began to give away as well. The collapse of the section of the ice castle also caused the last remaining fire troop, the one who had taken a head shot from Leo only moments ago, to be crushed to death as a mountain of ice came down onto it.

King Micheal's men fled away from the collapsing walls towards the entrance they had blasted through, but the walls around the entrance were now becoming compromised as well, The collapsing walls and floor in the back of the battle room cascaded towards the entrance as the entire room steadily collapsed like a house of cards, eventually reaching the front of the room where the walls had already taken a pounding from the force of the ice doors being blasted open. Only a handful of guards managed to make it through the entrance before it began to collapse as well, trapping several other guards and King Micheal inside along with Leo.

Leo realized the entire room was collapsing and realized that the bodies of the behemoths would provide no defense agains the entire room collapsing on top of them, so he wiggled out of his hiding spot and tried to make his way through the rubble back into the living room, which by some miracle wasn't collapsing into itself like the other half of the castle was. Leo tried to dig and climb his way back into the other room, but the hailing chunks of ice from the ceiling above thwarted him, forcing him into taking cover or risk being crushed to death. Leo once again improvised, sweeping his arms around him then up to his head, causing a sturdy ice teepee to surround him as a pointed shield from the ceiling above him. Huge chunks of ice pummeled the teepee, but it held as Leo continually reinforced the structure with nonstop blasting of ice.

Leo almost rode out the collapse of the room above him, but a large chunk of the roof from the very top of the castle gave way and roared towards Leo's defense. Barely avoiding a direct hit, the gigantic slab of ice only landed a glancing blow, smashing the ice teepee to pieces and flinging Leo across the room onto other rubble, knocking him out cold.

* * *

><p>Elsa sprinted up the tunnel, incensed by all the arguing between Anna and Kristoff to the point where she snapped and decided to let her heart decide what to do, and it had decided to run back to Leo at full speed. Elsa was running faster than she had ever run before, the sheer combination of panic, fear, liberation, and adrenaline fueled her as she almost flew up the tunnel.<p>

The collapse of the battle room from the ice castle sent titanic shockwaves into the surrounding mountains, making the prior earthquake seem like child's play. The shaking of the tunnel was so immense and prolonged that Elsa eventually lost her footing, plowing head first into the floor beneath her, knocking her out cold.

Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Axis were also in pursuit of Elsa through the tunnel, but they were running at a substantially slower speed, not having the concoction of emotions that granted Elsa almost inhuman speed. The tremors from the collapse of the battle room in the distance shook the tunnel from side to side, but rather than try to run through it, the entire gang stopped and tried to keep their footing, several of them having to fall to their knees due to how violent the tremors were.

"Is the entire tunnel caving in!?" - Kristoff called out, worried about possibly becoming buried alive.

"I don't know, for all we know Leo may have started a damn avalanche to eliminate King Micheal and his forces!" - Axis said.

"I cant feel my knees! I CANT FEEL MY KNEES!" - Olaf yelled in terror

"You don't have knees Olaf!" - Kristoff called out

"Guys, we have to find Elsa!" - Anna said, crawling her way up the tunnel as it continued to shake.

* * *

><p>The collapse of the battle room lasted several minutes, as the gigantic walls of ice that were several feet thick slowly but steadily collapsed in an unstoppable and chaotic chain reaction. Everything above the basement room had collapsed into it, only sparing the people inside by how slow the collapse proceeded. Rather than dump ice and rubble into the space all at once, the chain-faction instead only steadily added rubble into the basement slowly and over time, with much of it occupying the empty space that had existed in the basement before the collapse. Leo had avoided being crushed by simply being in the right places at the right times, along with shear dumb luck.<p>

Leo stirred and slowly came out of the blackout. The storm outside was now swirling inside the battle room that was now exposed to the outside elements, and snow and chilly wind blasted Leo's face as his vision came into focus. Leo had landed on some rubble right on his back, and he was overwhelmed by the pain he felt as he tried to sit himself up, fighting through it and almost blacking out from the pain in the process. He shook some rubble off of his legs with a wiggle of his feet, and sat steady as he waited for his vision to unblur.

He never saw the guard coming.

One of King Micheal's guard had spotted Leo lying unconscious in the rubble, and had quickly but quietly maneuvered himself towards Leo, hoping to become the person to slay him. He froze when Leo stirred, but then resumed after noticing that Leo was in crippling pain.

He then broke out to a full sprint, produced a kitchen knife from his pocket, and lunged it into Leo's chest.

"AAAAHH" Leo cried out, immediately blasting the guard away with a blast of ice before grabbing the kitchen knife that he hand plunged into him. The knife had entered in between two of his ribs, and went full length into where Leo's heart would have been.

What would have been a lethal wound to anyone else was the one place that Leo could have absorbed such an attach.

The guard's hope at being the one to slay Leo quickly vanquished as Leo pulled the knife out from his chest and got onto his feet, holding the blood stained knife in his hand and staring at eh guard with a stare that could shake anyone to their core.

"H-How… H-How are you still alive?" - the guard asked, astounded at how unfazed Leo was by the wound.

Leo chuckled. "Didn't you hear?….. I don't have a heart!" he remarked, before blasting the guard with the hardest blast of ice he had summoned yet. The blast had sent the guard over the mountains of rubble around them and onto the slick floor of the living room on the other side, his momentum causing him to slide across the floor and off into the mountain range where he plunged to his death.

Of the 8 guards that King Micheal had brought with him up the mountain. 3 of them fled the castle before the battle room collapsed and were running down the mountain as fast as they could carry themselves. Of the remaining 5, only 3 had survived the collapse of the room, with one of them being blasted off the castle and into the mountains below, leaving just Leo, King Micheal, and 2 guards.

A throwing star grazed Leo and clattered to a halt nearby, leaving a slight cut on his leg. Leo looked up at where the throwing star came from and observed King Micheal standing on a pile of rubble with his two remaining guards.

Standing there like sitting ducks

'_Lets end this'_ Leo thought to himself, leaping into attack-mode and charging towards King Micheal with the intent to kill.

* * *

><p>Elsa came to only after being shaken awake by Anna, who had finally caught up with Elsa with everyone else trailing only slightly behind.<p>

"Elsa are you okay? Are you hurt?" - Anna asked, worriedly searching Elsa for any signs of blood.

"Ack, i'm, i'm okay. Just hit my head" - Elsa said, rubbing the spot on her head that had hit the ground as she got onto her feet. "How long was I out?"

"I don't know, but come on we have to hurry!" - Anna said, tugging Elsa to her feet.

"Elsa! Thank God you're okay, come on we have to get the hell out of here!" - Kristoff said

"Kristoff we're not leaving, we're going to help Leo" - Elsa said, brushing some dirt off of her clothes as Anna helped her regain her footing.

"Wait, seriously? You're actually going back for him?" - Kristoff said, astounded at the bad luck he was having.

"Yes, seriously. I made my decision. And whether its logical or not, it's cleary the right thing to do" - Elsa stated.

"I agree! Now come on Elsa, we have to hurry!" - Anna said, tugging Elsa up the tunnel.

Elsa and Anna resumed their run up the tunnel with Olaf and Axis trying to keep up. Kristoff stood still and helplessly pleaded to try to get them all to turn back.

"No one ever listens to me" Kristoff muttered with a frown, before sprinting up the tunnel to rejoin everyone else.

* * *

><p>The wizard furiously searched through his collection of items, potions, and ingredients. He didn't know why King Micheal was trying to harvest Elsa's ice powers, or how he intended to do it, but King Micheal's motives were clearly not what the Wizard understood them to be, and he regretted sacrificing half of a magnum-crystal to produce his fire troops. The distant rumblings that made their way down the mountain only added to his worries of what kind of hell he accidentally triggered, and he knew he could not just sit and wait for whatever was going on to stop. He needed answers and he needed them out.<p>

"Bingo!" - The wizard called out, locating the powder he had stored for years. He had already located the very little teleportation powder he had left left, having just enough for him to make a trip up the mountain, back, and still have enough left over to teleport to one more place. What he was looking for was an illusion powder, which would allow him to appear as something else. Mixing the illusion ingredient with the teleportation powder would, hopefully, transport him to another place and allow him to hide in plain site, and then having enough to transform back into his regular appearance and then teleport back to his cabin, should he wind up in danger. He poured some of the powder into the little baggy of teleportation powder while keeping track of the ratios of both.

"MORPH! I'll be right back, don't go anywhere" - The wizard called out to his minion. His call went unheard, as Morph had once again mysteriously vanished and gone off somewhere else outside of the cabin.

The wizard quietly cursed at the absent Morph, recited a few chants, and threw a chunk of the powders into the ground below him, causing him to vanish in a puff of smoke.

* * *

><p>Leo leapt towards King Micheal and his two remaining guards, who only barely managed to dodge the attack by miraculously jumping off the pile of rubble and somehow avoiding Leo's multiple ice blasts. King Micheal and one guard threw themselves to the left, while the last remaining guard fell off to the right. Leo landed hard on his legs, his back once again erupting in pain. However, it was the weird tingling feeling in his leg that caught Leo's attention, it felt as if his leg was almost falling asleep, similar to the feeling you get when you sit on your foot for several minutes and then stand up to walk around.<p>

Brushing it aside, Leo made quick work of the guard who went to the right of Leo when he sprung to attack, who had gotten to his feet and charged at leo with a wooden stake that was sharpened into a makeshift spear. Leo tossed out a hand and froze the charging guards feet together, causing him to crash headfirst into the ground and knock himself out. Leo hobbled over towards the guard and put 2 very small stakes of ice into the back of the guards head, quietly and painlessly sending him into the afterlife.

Another throwing star whizzed by and lodged itself into a pile of rubble nearby, grazing Leo's shoulder and leaving a small cut. His long sleeved pants and shirt were already torn in several places from the collapse of the ice castle, but they were still holding themselves together despite all they had gone through, much like Leo himself.

Leo turned around and reactively fired a blast towards where the throwing star came from, the blast plowing into a pile of rubble that King Micheal took refuge behind. A guard popped out from a nearby pile of rubble and produced a crossbow, firing it at Leo while he was distracted at the fact that King Micheal had access to crossbows in the first place.

Leo brought his arms up to his head, and a shard of ice shot out of the floor to stop the arrow in mid-flight, bringing the point to a stop just before it would have entered Leo's eye. Leo marveled at the miraculous save as the guard motioned towards the left to try to take another shot. Micheal moved to the right and threw another throwing star, veering off and missing Leo completely.

Leo tried to outmaneuver the last remaining guard, but the weird feeling in his leg increased and stopped him in his tracks. The tingling seemed to be getting stronger and spreading, and Leo also began to faintly feel the same feeling in his shoulder. Fighting through both of them, Leo quickly maneuvered over a pile of rubble and found himself directly overhead of the guard with the crossbow, who had just reloaded it with another arrow. The guard whipped around as Leo came down on him, Leo firing a blast of ice at the guards face while the guard raised his crossbow and fired at Leo.

Only Leo's shot hit its target.

The blast of ice hit the guard square in the face and frosted the guard's face, blinding him in the process, while the arrow barely missed Leo and shot off into some other part of the room. Leo landed hard on his legs and crashed into the floor, pain shooting through his numbing leg, his back, the shoulder he landed on hard before, and now his other shoulder which was numbing much like his leg was. Leo tried to get up, but his leg was now completely unresponsive and couldn't move.

His body was giving out on him.

Turning towards the guard who was screaming in both pain and fear, Leo raised his arm and fired another blast of ice at the guard's head, finishing the job and silencing the guard once and for all. Leo then tried to sit up, but he was unable to do that too, the stress on his back causing too much pain to shoot through him and forcing him to break off the motion. He now had no feeling of his left leg that had been cut by the throwing star, and now he was losing feeling in his left shoulder that was also cut by a throwing star. With his back completely mangled from being landed on and being mauled by a bear and a wolf a day earlier, Leo now only had control over his right arm and his right leg.

That is, at least, until King Micheal landed two throwing stars directly into Leo's back.

The throwing stars did not only graze Leo like the last two did, they had completely punctured Leo's back, the sides of the throwing stars penetrating deep down into his skin. Leo roared in agony, the pain swept through him like multiple tsunami's one after another. He breathed as he tried to lift himself up and fight through the pain, but this time he couldn't even budge. His body had finally given out.

King Micheal slowly stepped up behind Leo, another throwing star in his hand ready to send it into Leo if he made a sudden movement. Leo though was too overwhelmed in pain to move, and the numbness from the wounds from the throwing stars were quickly taking over his body like a conquering army. He soon lost all feeling in his back, legs, arms, and even his neck, only managing to maintain control of his head.

"What…. What the hell is this?" - Leo asked, dumbfounded at how he suddenly lost all movement in his body just because of four throwing stars, only two of which were even direct hits.

King Micheal gave out a dry chuckle. "i'm guessing you aren't very familiar with paralysis potions are you?" he said, stepping to Leo's side where his face was pointed. Leo quickly figured out that the throwing stars must have been laced with some kind of potion that had immobilized him.

"How'd you do it? How did—" Leo started, but King Micheal was already preparing his victory speech.

"I can't believe after all this, after all I went through trying to kill you, that you could fall so easily…. I resorted to so many elaborate schemes to try to defeat you over these years, over the decades, that I almost thought killing you was impossible…. No matter what I came up with, you were always so damn unpredictable that even the best plans I could create failed miserably…." - King Micheal started

"Yeah yeah, whatever. How did you convince the wizard to grant you fire troops?" - Leo asked, but King Micheal ignored him and kept rambling.

"You could have made this so much easier by doing what you were expected to do. Even when I brought Elsa and her friends into your lair, you still couldn't do it, could you?" - King Micheal

"Do what?" - Leo

"Kill them of course." - King Micheal

"And how would that have made things _easier?_" - Leo

"All you had to do was kill Elsa, maybe some of her friends as well, and then that would have freed up a spot for someone to inherit ice powers…. I somehow convinced her to come all this way, to come along in the attack, I even gave her no plan whatsoever and basically threw her into your little lion's den, but you still didn't kill her…." - King Micheal

"Wait a minute, you were trying to harvest ELSA's powers!" - Leo realized, understanding what King Micheal was saying.

"Well I was making so little progress with you that naturally I had to get creative. Once news came out that a powerful Ice Queen had come to power in a kingdom with a respectable army and navy, I immediately knew that I could never come close to killing her. I wouldn't even have came close..… But YOU could…. All I had to do was stick you two in a room and wait for nature to take its course, yet somehow, you spared her life, and she still lives somewhere…. All you had to do was kill her, that would have made it soooo much simpler for the rest of us…." - King Micheal

"Hate to break it to you, but i'm not the monster you make me out to be to everyone else" - Leo

"Well thats a shame. If I had her powers then I wouldn't have a reason to kill you then would I?… Ah well, it all works out in the end either way…. I'm here, and you're there, so it looks like I get to kill you after all this anyways!" - King Micheal said, pulling out the poison-coated knife the wizard had given him.

"So you get your ice powers and then I die. What comes after that?" - Leo asked, trying to buy time.

"Well I'm assuming that Elsa and her friends now know that you're not actually evil and that you're not causing this eternal winter, and i'm also going to assume you told them the truth about everything else where I'm trying to harvest your powers…. After the wizard performs the spell and grants me your ice powers, I'll kill him, then Elsa, then anyone else who knows the truth." - King Micheal said as he observed his knife.

"Kill the wizard after all he did for you?" - Leo said, angered at hearing Micheal say he would kill Elsa anyways but still confused over why the wizard would die as well.

"Well duh. Now that you're dead he wont see any reason in letting me use his healing flower to stay young. With his death I get eternal life, with your death I get ice powers, and with Elsa's death I preserve my legacy…." - King Micheal said, flipping Leo onto his back and dragging him towards a pile of rubble. He propped Leo onto the rubble in a sitting position and gripped his knife in his hand.

"So now what. You going to stab me through the head with that knife? I know you Mikey, you're ruthless, but you're squeamish. You could never kill someone by shoving a knife into their face." - Leo coldly remarked.

"For once, you're correct. I don't have it in me to stab you in the face. However, this knife is coated with a powerful poison that will do the dirty work for me. One simple cut anywhere on you and you'll be dead within a few minutes, before the paralysis position wears off." - Micheal said, squatting down next to Leo and opening Leo's hand. He then placed the blade of the knife onto Leo's hand.

"Any last words?" - King Micheal asked, devilishly grinning now that after all these years, he finally was in the scenario he had dreamed and fought to be in for so long.

"What makes you think you can defeat Elsa? She has years of experience with her ice powers, you would only have had a few hours practice by the time you ran into her again." - Leo

Micheal chuckled. "I guess I'll just have to do what you always did, and _improvise_" - King Micheal said, slashing Leo's hand with the knife as he said the word 'improvise'. The cut was only slightly deeper than the cuts Leo received from the throwing stars that grazed his leg and shoulder earlier, but it was more than deep enough for the poison to enter inside, which slowly began to spread out from the wound as it blackened.

King Micheal got to his feet. and pocketed the knife in his bag with the remaining throwing stars. "Well Ice King, you have proven to be a worthy adversary…. But I won, and you can go to hell"

With that King Micheal turned his back and walked away from Leo towards the entrance of the ice castle. Leo could not think of anything else to call out to Micheal as he left, and he instead could only observe the poison in his skin as it crept through his veins. The poison reacted with the blood to make it turn black, which through his pale white skin made it very easy to observe the poison and make its way up his arm.

Leo couldn't believe it all. Despite his tricks working to complete perfection, and despite having the best circumstances to fight fire troops, the injuries to his back was simply too much to overcome.

King Micheal had still won.


	26. Chapter 26: Ends and Beginnings

Elsa and Anna both crossed through the doorway into the storage room first, with Olaf, Axis, and Kristoff trailing not far behind. After pausing to catch their breath and waiting for the others to catch up, they all made their way into the living room.

They opened the door and were immediately greeted by the hellish winds of the blizzard outside. Though not as fierce as before, the storm still gave Elsa and the gang a very unwelcome surprise as they entered into what used to be the living room.

"Oh my God, its gone!" - Anna said, amazed and horrified at how the giant window that once dominated the living room had been blown out, the ceiling had collapsed, and the wall leading to the battle room and basement had all crumbled to the ground. It was only by some miracle that the storage room and the bedroom stayed intact and untouched while literally everything else looked like it had been the victim of several tornados.

"Holy sh—"

"Spread out and look for Leo" - Elsa said, cutting off Olaf. All of them quickly fanned out and began calling out for Leo, with Anna quickly making her way to the bedroom while everyone else immediately began to pick through the rubble that was the battle room and basement.

"He's not in here!" Anna called out after a quick search of the bedroom.

"Over here!" - Axis called out, causing everyone to scramble towards his voice. Axis was the first to have found Leo, and was mortified at what he saw.

* * *

><p>The wizard stood perfectly still. After teleporting into the castle and appearing as a typical rock, the wizard had situated himself close enough to see and hear every word King Micheal exchanged with Leo, hearing all about his plans of the past and future. The wizard was dumbfounded at how he had been betrayed, King Micheal had exploited his desperation for redemption for close to 20 years now, and after everything he did and everything he gave to King Micheal, he still intended to kill him. Whats worse, Leo may not even have been as evil as he suspected after all, meaning his 20 years of assisting in trying to kill him was a pointless and wasteful effort.<p>

The wizard was about to teleport back to his cabin to destroy his belongings and do anything he could to prevent King Micheal from gaining Leo's ice powers, but he stopped after observing what looked like a spider made of ice approach Leo and start talking to him. Intrigued, the wizard looked on.

* * *

><p>"Master! Master! What have they done to you!?" - Axis cried out as he made his way towards Leo. The poison had traveled all the way through his arm and shoulder, and was now making its way through his neck and the rest of his body. Still paralyzed, Leo had regained some control over his neck muscles, and he tilted his head ever so slightly to lay eyes on Axis as he approached him.<p>

"Axis…. W-What are you doing here?" - Leo whispered, his energy being sapped as the poison slowly advanced.

"Master speak up! I can barely hear you over this storm!" - Axis cried out, eyes wide in fear as he observed Leo's arm and neck. Kristoff and the others spotted Leo and Axis and began to make their way towards them.

"Why, why did you come back?" - Leo asked, still whispering as the storm overhead began to simmer down.

"They decided to come back master, I couldn't stop them. Once they saw the damage that had been done to your castle, they decided that leaving you was the wrong thing to do." - Axis clarified, eyes still fixed on Leo's blackened veins.

Anna was the first person after Axis to reach Leo, with the others closing in.

"Leo! What the… Are you okay? What happened?" - Anna said, observing the large cut in Leo's hand that had been sliced open by King Micheal's knife.

"I put up a hell of a fight, but he won, and I lost" - Leo whispered.

"What?" - Anna asked, unable to hear him as the winds whipped around them.

"HE SAID HE THREW UP AND FELL AT NIGHT, MADE A PUN, AND GOT LOST" - Olaf yelled, incorrectly repeating what he thought he heard Leo say.

"Leo!" Elsa gasped, sliding onto her knees next to Leo and Anna as she observed his arm. "What happened, what caused THAT?" Elsa asked, horrified at the black substance in Leo's arms.

"Micheal poisoned me, couldn't stop him" - Leo said, trying to speak up. Elsa, only barely being able to hear him, immediately stood up and twirled her arms around her, causing ice to materialize out of the ground and rise up into the sky, creating a decent sized dome of ice around them. The dome immediately silenced the whirling winds of the storm and kept them away from the elements.

"Ah much better" - Olaf

"Master what happened?" - Axis repeated, still fishing for answers.

Leo breathed heavily and chose his words carefully, trying to not exhaust himself to death. "I managed to take out Micheal's fire troops, but my body began to give out, and Micheal used a paralysis potion or something to take me down. Then he cut my hand with a poison-tipped knife and left me here to die."

"Christ…." - Kristoff said, recognizing the gravity of the situation.

"Leo, we need to get you some help. We need to get you out of here" - Elsa pleaded.

Leo shook his head ever so slightly. "Elsa you got to get out of here, Micheal is coming for you next. He knows that you know the truth and he intends to kill you. He wanted to get you killed all along"

"Wait WHAT?" - Anna

"What do you mean he was trying to kill me all along?" - Elsa asked.

"He brought you in here without any sort of plan to defeat me, hoping that I would kill you in the battle. Then he would harvest your powers since he couldn't get mine." - Leo clarified

"That son of a b—"

"That explains why he didn't have a plan when he attacked!" - Anna said, cutting off Kristoff. "He didn't make a plan because he was hoping that Leo would take us out and then simply harvest your powers instead!" - Anna told Elsa, who already arrived at that conclusion.

"And now that he got my powers anyways, he's going to get the wizard to perform the spell and then come after you guys since you are the only ones who know that I'm not actually evil." - Leo finished, relaxing and leaning his head back onto the pile f rubble behind him.

"Leo we need to get you some help. Is there anything we can do?" - Kristoff asked.

"You guys need to Get. Out. Of. Here." - Leo said, punctuating his words for emphasis. "Axis can still lead you through town before Micheal can get his powers, but now you really have to move quick" - Leo

"Leo we cant just leave you… Not again." - Elsa said, observing the black substance in his veins began to creep through his neck and onto his face. She laid a hand on Leo's knee to try to spur him to get up, but the usual warmth she felt when they touched was no longer there. Elsa shifted her hand to other places along Leo's lower leg, but she couldn't feel the warmth as she had before.

It was then that Elsa fully accepted that Leo was dying.

"Elsa, it's…. It's too late for me" - Leo admitted with a heavy sigh. He could no longer even feel his neck, and the only thing he could control now were his eyes and his mouth, the poison creeping closer and closer to his brain.

"Don't say that Leo, don't say that! W-We're going to get you out of here" Elsa stammered, trying to stay calm but beginning to lose her nerve. Ice began to pour into her fingers as her emotions welled up inside her.

"Axis, you still think you can lead them through town without being observed?" - Leo asked Axis

"Yes Master. It'll be my honor" - Axis said, saluting Leo as he realized that he was receiving his final orders from his commander.

"We can't just leave you here Leo. We already made that mistake once" - Anna said, trying to keep her nerve too.

"It wasn't a mistake Anna. It was the smart thing to do.…" - Leo

"Doing the _smart_ thing and doing the _right_ thing isn't the same though!" - Anna protested, but Leo kept going

"God knows what would have happened had you guys been here when this all came down. One of you definitely would have been killed" - Leo

"So…. Now what?" - Olaf asked

"You guys now have a bounty on your head courtesy of King Micheal, which means you gotta get on your ship and back to Arendelle… Axis!" - Leo

"Way ahead of you master. Come guys, we must leave at once!" - Axis said, obeying his master's last request.

"No!" - Elsa said, frustration and unavoidable grief boiling over. "I'm not leaving you Leo! I'm not leaving…."

"Elsa, you need to relax, being upset isn't going to make things any easier" - Leo said, noticing the ground around Elsa starting to freeze over in a fresh patch of ice. Elsa's hand and lower lip were also starting to quiver, she was on the verge of bursting out into tears.

"I'm not leaving, I _can't_ leave" - Elsa said, keeping her voice down to a whisper as she tried to keep it all in.

"Elsa… Reach into my pocket" - Leo whispered back.

Elsa, confused, didn't seem to understand what Leo asked. "…..What?" was all she could come up with.

"In my right pocket near you, I got you something as a gift." Leo calmly said, keeping a poker face so that Elsa couldn't see what he was doing.

Elsa casually extended her hand into Leo's pocket, and pulled out the small rock that he used to illuminate the tunnels. She held it in her hand and rolled it over between her fingers.

"This, this is your rock." - Elsa said, still confused.

"It's all I have left. I need you to take that, and make sure King Micheal doesn't get his hands on it." - Leo

"Why can't King Micheal get the rock?" - Anna said.

"Because its _my_ rock" - Leo said with a boyish grin. Even if King Micheal did succeed in killing him, Leo was still going to have the last laugh. If it helped Elsa get out of Houkkaville and back to Arendelle, then that was a bonus. "Take that to Arendelle and make sure that Micheal doesn't get his damn hands on it. Can you do that?" he asked Elsa.

Elsa, still confused over what Leo was saying and asking of her, initially thought Leo was crudely trying to trick her into leaving. But she held the rock in her hand and realized that it really was all Leo had left, and that it was at least pretty significant to him. _Did he give it to her to trick her to leave, or was this a genuine act of goodwill?_ Elsa had several questions swirling in her head, but somehow this little rock had calmed her down.

_And there was no way in sh** she was gonna let King Micheal get it_

"Will, will that be it then, Leo?" Elsa asked, regaining some of her composure.

"Yes. Making sure Micheal doesn't get my rock by taking it to Arendelle is the best thing you can do for me, and I'll be happy knowing that Micheal can't ever have it" Leo said, still grinning.

Elsa forced a smile as tears began to run down her cheek. She didn't have it in her to say goodbye, so instead, she buried her head into Leo's shoulder and hugged Leo as hard as she could. It was at that point that Elsa learned that the only thing more terrifying than possibly developing feelings for someone, was not having the time to figure out the answer before it was too late.

_'Everything will be okay'_ Leo whispered in her ear so that only she heard it. But Elsa knew it wouldn't be, and she hugged Leo even harder until she had exhausted herself.

It felt like both the longest and shortest hug in the world to Elsa, and as she pulled herself away from Leo, she got one last good look at his face. There were countless things that Elsa could remember him by, but the one quality she could never forget were how blue Leo's eyes were.

Anna helped Elsa to her feet and carefully wrapped her arms around Elsa's arm, Kristoff and Olaf stood nearby, saddened that they would soon be leaving Leo alone to die.

"Is, is there anything we can do to at least make you more comfortable?" - Kristoff asked, hating to ask the really hard questions.

Leo hadn't thought it over, but quickly concluded what he wanted. "Take down this barrier. I'd like to feel the wind of winter on my face one last time…." - Leo said, his words starting to slur as the poison began to reach the edge of his mouth.

Elsa twisted her wrist casually and the walls fell outwards, the winds of the outside storm rushing in and plastering all of them with a cold breeze.

Leo welcomed the breeze on his face as if he had just finished exercising in 100 degree weather. Just being able to hear and smell the cold winds one last time, being able to feel it mess up his hair, was heavenly.

Leo closed his eyes to fully take it in, and Kristoff cautiously motioned Anna and Elsa away from Leo, letting him enjoy what few moments he had left. Anna was the most concerned over how Elsa would react, but Elsa just barely kept it together by twirling the rock around in her hands as she was being led away. Kristoff knew that time was becoming an issue, since King Micheal by the second came closer and closer to getting ice powers, and since Elsa was in absolutely no shape to fight, but Anna was having none of it. She made sure Elsa moved however quickly or slowly as she wanted, doing everything she could to not cause her to lose it.

Leo cracked open an eye and watched the gang disappear into the storm, relieved that they were finally, albeit slowly, making their way to safety. Leo closed his eyes again and assessed what all he could move and feel. He was finding it more and more difficult to breathe, and he could no longer move his lips or even wriggle his nose. More than anything though, he was tired. He had no energy left in him at all, having been depleted by his prior injuries, the battle, and now the poison.

Eyes still closed, Leo fired off one last thought before letting himself succumb to the elements.

_I know you're out there, and I know you've always been there for me, regardless of whether or not I was the only one who could see you. If you can hear me, make sure you protect them. Make sure they get to live a life I always wanted to have by protecting them. Be a guardian to them like you were to me, and above all else…. Protect Elsa._

And with that, Leo exhaled for the final time, his last breath being carried away towards the mountains by the winter winds.

* * *

><p>The wizard watched as Leo's life came to a close, and with a heavy heart, he teleported himself back into his hut, his worst fears being confirmed. Not only had Micheal been deceiving the wizard all along, but the Ice King was also not the villain he thought he had created. The wizard felt his entire existence was now pointless and a failure, as he wondered how he had lost his way for so long.<p>

Back in his cabin, he pulled out a book of tall tales from one of the shelves and flipped to the prophecy for a fresh look. Though he could only read pieces of the ancient text, the pictures of the prophecy made it seem abundantly clear that Leo should have been the evil one, not Micheal.

_So why did the exact opposite happen?_

The wizard pointed to the one piece of text he could deduce and recited the line out loud for the thousandth time, "A heartless monster would plunge the town into eternal winter...". The wizard's eyes focused on the word 'heartless', and he realized his first mistake.

_Heartless was just a metaphor! The prophecy didn't say that the villain would LITERALLY be heartless, he had only assumed it was_ _literal!_

The wizard cursed his own stupidity and flipped through the next pages, looking for anything else he may have mistranslated. He made it to the very last page without spotting any other revelation, and the Wizard simply rested his eyes on the final pictures. One showed King Micheal holding a bloody knife and leaving the Ice King to die, the other showed King Micheal turning to ash while the Ice King lived. The wizard spotted nothing wrong with the pictures, he had studied them time and time again over the years since this was the only prophecy that showed two possible outcomes of an event. Prophecies usually predicted a single outcome of an event, since that's literally what prophecies do.

_So then why did this one show two possible outcomes?_

The wizard flipped through half the book to look at his own prophecy that foretold of how he would acquire the two magnum crystals, one of which was now buried in Leo's chest, with the half of the other lying on the top of a shelf in the room. The prophecy involving him was only one page long, and his page was dominated by two pictures as well, one showing him gaining both magnum crystals, the other showing him dying with a piece of a magnum crystal with a look of satisfaction on his face.

The wizard glared at the page and saw once again the look of the wizard in the picture. The look of happiness on his face was unmistakable with the feeling of achieving a life-long quest for redemption.

Now though, he would not gain his redemption. He was wrong about the Ice King, and the prophecy was wrong about him.

_But prophecies are never wrong..._

The wizard was puzzled at how his prophecy showed him dying happy and redeemed, because such a future was now impossible.

_But prophecies are never wrong..._

The wizard switched back and forth between both pictures that showed the before and after. Each time thinking the word 'Before' while observing the top picture, and then thinking 'After' when looking at the second picture. 'Before, After, Before, After' he repeated to himself as he switched back and forth between both images. The exercise was useless though, and with a shake of his head, the wizard brushed off the event and flipped back to the prophecy of Micheal and the Ice King.

Again, he observed the two pictures on the last available page of the prophecy. His eye's ping-ponged back and forth between both pictures as he desperately looked for any sort of clue.

_'Before, After, Before, After'_

The wizard found himself repeating the same thought when looking at the prophecy, and thats when he finally realized his second mistake.

_It wasn't an if/or prophecy, it was a before/after prophecy!_

The wizard's jaw dropped as his brain almost cracked in half at the great realization. _The prophecy foretold that Micheal would kill the Ice King, and that somehow he would survive and that Micheal would turn into dust!_

_No no, that doesn't make sense. The Ice King is already dead! How could he somehow come back alive while Micheal turned into dust_

The wizard paced around the room thinking over everything, nervous that King Micheal was on his way to his cabin to perform the transformation spell, and then kill him immediately afterwards. The wizard was more preoccupied with why the prophecy predicted that the Ice King somehow lived while King Micheal had turned into dust. _What on Earth could explain that?_

There was only one possibly answer. The wizard turned his eyes towards the flower that preserved the youth of King Micheal. Picking up the flower, the wizard grabbed the package that the flower sat on for all these years. Blowing off the dust on it, the wizard opened the box and produced the book of dark spells he swore he would never open.

But now he had to open it. Maybe, just maybe, there was some kind of spell that would explain how the Ice King could have come back to life, why King Micheal turned into dust, and maybe even solve the wizards own prophecy.

The wizard flipped through the book, looking for any spell involving resurrection and ignoring everything else. It didn't take him long to find the page he was looking for.

What he found explained _everything_.


	27. Chapter 27: The Netherworld

Thank you to everyone for the views, reviews, follows, and favorites!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, a while being almost a month now. I've been fighting off the worst head cold not named 'Ebola' that has ever been contracted, and it got to the point that I had to get chest x-rays to see what was going on. Having a flurry of tests at school, plus exploring plot lines for why my next story will be also didn't help the situation either, so this story had to wait. Now I can go ahead and start to wrap this up though.

This will likely be either the second-to-last or third-to last chapter, maybe it's the fourth, I can't be sure, but we are definitely in the home stretch and it's time to start tying up some loose ends.

Thanks again! :D

* * *

><p>The wizard madly dashed around his hut, grabbing just about every spice and powder of significant value and stuffing them into a single sack. Every last magical element that he either hadn't used in ages or never used before went into the sack, he wanted to make sure that nothing of value could possibly fall into the wrong hands after he did what he was going to do. The spell he had found in the book of black magic explained all of the anomalies the wizard saw in the book of prophecies, and also offered a way to solve all the problems that King Micheal was causing, with only a slightly terrible cost to pay. If he was going to pull this off though, he needed to move fast, and track down Queen Elsa and her friends before King Micheal could.<p>

For the spell to work, the wizard grabbed coal so finely ground that it resembled black sand, the remaining chunk of magnum crystal he had left, and the ingredients from the transformation spell that the wizard was going to use to transfer ice powers to King Micheal. After grabbing everything he needed, the wizard pulled out the last of the teleportation powder he had left, and threw it at his feet, disappearing in a poof.

* * *

><p>From across the room, the beady little eyes of Morph peered out from a shoe. He had watched quietly as the wizard frantically tore through the house looking for all sorts of ingredients for something before teleporting somewhere else.<p>

_This seems like something that would be of interest to King Micheal! _

With that thought, Morph teleported through the house in successive bursts to go out and find King Micheal, eager to be the bearer of intriguing news yet again.

* * *

><p>The group slowly made their way through the wreckage of the house towards the tunnels, with Anna keeping a very watchful eye on Elsa, expecting her emotionally frail sister to break down at any moment. As Anna guided her through the shattered remnants of the castle, she did everything she could to preserve Elsa's peaceful state of mind, the full weight of Leo's death hadn't quite hit her. That little rock that Leo gave her was keeping her preoccupied for the time, but sooner or later it was really going to hit her, and when that happened….. Oh boy.<p>

Anna knew in the back of her head that Elsa really did love Leo, even if she never wanted to admit it or even realize it… Whether it was just a little or quite a lot, Anna didn't know, but even she could see that Elsa had at least some feelings for Leo. No guy had ever caused Elsa to question her feelings and motives as frequently and deeply as Leo had in their brief encounters together, If Leo couldn't win her feelings, than no one could.

But now, he's gone, and he gave Elsa the very last thing of any value to him as his last act before he died too. Had Kristoff or Elsa done the same for Anna, she would have been bawling her eyes out and would have been inconsolable, so it was beyond her how Elsa was somehow keeping it together.

Anna guided Elsa into the still standing kitchen/storage room and towards the entrance to the tunnels, with Kristoff right beside them and Olaf and Axis not to far behind. The cold whip of the winds against their face vanished as they entered inside, and the group made their way right through the room towards the tunnels, which were once again pitch black.

"Guys, look at the tunnels, you can't see a thing!" - Olaf grimly observed

"It'll take a while to get through there even with Axis as a guide, but we have no choice, we have to keep moving!" - Kristoff said

"And just how do you propose that we do that when we can't see a bloody thing?" - Axis

"We'll just have to, I don't know, feel our way through, and make sure no one gets lost. Every second we waste, King Micheal gets closer and closer to cutting off our exit and trapping us here, we can't let that happen!" - Kristoff pleaded

"Well wait a minute, Elsa has Leo's rock, maybe we could just use that!" - Olaf said, lighting up and turning quickly to Elsa. "Hey Elsa, do you know how—"

It was no use though. While Kristoff, Olaf, and Axis were bickering over what to do, Elsa had dropped down to her knees after the sadness and depression became too much to bear. Her knees gave out, and Anna only had a split second to help break her fall, as Elsa was more concerned with holding onto Leo's rock than to even cushion her fall. Anna hugged Elsa as hard as possible as Elsa finally let it all out.

The door to the outside storm flew open, and the cabinets all started creaking as a fierce winter storm began brewing inside the room itself. Elsa was losing control over her powers.

* * *

><p>Morph teleported outside the hut and up the mountain as fast as possible, looking for any sign of King Micheal or his men to warn them of what the Wizard was up to. Morph had teleported halfway up the mountain before spotting King Micheal, who was walking down the mountain. Alone.<p>

Morph dashed towards him, exhausting and disorientating himself as he feverishly tried to do so. He finally made it to King Micheal and tried to catch his breath, and King Micheal greeted him as if he were a guest to a party.

"Morph! Glad to see you, how have you been?" he asked, a half grin on his face while holding the bag of weapons the wizard gave him in one hand, and the white hairs of Leo in the other.

"King Micheal! My lord….. whew!…. I came to….. Um….. Damn what was it I had to do?" - Morph said, half to King Micheal and half to himself. His feverish movement had caused him temporary memory loss, and he was now completely unaware of why he was trying to find King Micheal in the first place.

"Morph, it's okay, I've won. I got Leo's hairs, now we can go to the Wizard's hut and end this, once and for all" - King Micheal

Morph, upon hearing mention of the Wizard and Leo's hairs, recalled only part of why he came to warn King Micheal.

"OH! Thats it! I remember now! King Micheal, the Wizard knows that something is up! He knows that you've been telling lies to him, and he is growing very suspicious of everything you have been saying to him" - Morph said, panting and still trying to catch his breath.

"Morph, morph, it's okay. We can simply kill the wizard after I get my ice powers, and then there won't be any problems" - King Micheal said, trying to pacify Morphs frantic worry.

"Yes but, my King, there was, um, christ what was the other thing?" - Morph asked himself, forgetting to mention that the Wizard had actually left his hut and was not home at the moment to perform King Micheal's transformation.

"Morph, don't worry, just listen to me. Everything will be okay." - King Micheal said, calming down Morph before making his way towards the Wizards hut.

"But my King!" - Morph protested, racking his brain to try to remember what he had forgotten.

"It's okay Morph. I've won, Leo is dead, and nobody can change that…." - King Micheal said, not even turning around as he made his way down the mountain.

Morph followed behind him, still trying to remember what he had left out. Had King Micheal known that the Wizard was actually out and about, investigating the holes in King Micheal's story, then King Micheal would have hurried to remedy the situation. But because he didn't know, he casually continued to walk down the mountain as if everything was great.

It would prove to be very, very costly.

* * *

><p>The Wizard teleported to the same spot he had hid before, where he had heard King Micheal reveal his intentions to Leo after striking the fatal blow. The Wizard looked towards Leo and feared the worst. He quickly made his way over towards Leo and dropped down to his knees, examine Leo's body.<p>

The Wizard quickly discovered that Leo had indeed died. His heart sank as he got his first good look at Leo. He was not the monster or demon being that the wizard normally imagined whenever he heard the Ice King mentioned, Leo looked like any other child on the cusp of adulthood, a kid who was forced to grow up faster because of the circumstances he faced.

Circumstances that the wizard had himself caused.

The wizard cursed at himself for being such a fool for so long as tears welled in his eyes. He had devoted his life to inadvertently making a villain out of an innocent person, an innocent child, and in his unrelenting desire to somehow end this child's life, he had created a monster in King Micheal in the process….

_But it will be okay, because I know how to fix this once and for all_

The Wizard carefully pulled out a few of Leo's hairs before standing up in the remains of the destroyed castle around them, looking for Queen Elsa and the rest of her party. He needed to act fast if he was going to find them before King Micheal did, and being in a destroyed castle with no idea where to go wasn't helping.

After observing everything around himself though, the Wizard noticed a peculiar site. Just behind a heap of rubble, a miniature winter storm was brewing and slowly growing in size, spinning around as if it was orbiting around a specific point.

Or around a specific person.

The Wizard climbed up over the rubble and feverishly made his way towards the winter clouds where Elsa and everyone else was.

* * *

><p>Anna cradled Elsa's head onto her shoulder to try to comfort her in a hug, while keeping her head down as the blizzard Elsa was causing started to blast everyone with winds that whipped all around the room. The howling had grown so intense that Anna everyone had to yell just to hear themselves, and chunks of the walls and ceiling around them were starting to crack and crumble.<p>

Olaf and Axis were pinned against the walls of the room from the winds, but Kristoff managed to make his way over to Anna and Elsa using every lunch of strength he had.

"ELSA!" - Kristoff yelled. "YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN. THE ROOM IS STARTING TO CAVE IN!"

"SHE CAN'T HELP IT KRISTOFF!" Anna yelled back. Elsa was too far gone to be able to reign in her powers at the moment, and yelling at her to stop certainly wasn't going to fix anything either.

"ELSA!" - Anna yelled this time, using her hands to lift up Elsa's face towards her own. "ELSA, IT'S OKAY. WE ARE HERE FOR YOU. IT'S O-KAY" Anna yelled.

Elsa, eyes completely watered and battered by the winds she was unleashing, only could partially see Anna even though she was only 6 inches from her face. She also couldn't hear a thing she was saying to her, as the howling winds drowned out anything that anyone was saying. Elsa was so grief-stricken and broken that she couldn't process anything that her senses were picking up, she could only feel her heart tearing in half, and then into fourths, as she finally accepted that Leo was dead, and not just dead, but killed, in cold blood, by King Micheal.

The emotions going on inside her… Grief, depression, sadness, hatred, fury, pity, despair, remorse….. It was all too much to bear, and it was all painfully coming out. She couldn't hold it back anymore

Rather than try to keep it all in though, Elsa pulled a complete 180, and decided to let it come out rather than bottle it up inside. Snapping at Kristoff for labeling Leo a traitor allowed Elsa to let out some of her emotions in a controlled burst, and doing so felt great and relieving at the same time. So rather than hopelessly trying to keep it all in, she let it pour out, the raw emotional carnage overtaking her.

Elsa wrapped her arms around Anna and pulled her in for a hug as her emotions poured out. Anna returned the favor, hugging Elsa as tight as possible in response and letting her do whatever she needed to do to just get it all out. No one knows how sisters can understand so much about what emotional carnage the other is going through, and somehow understand the best way to help each other out all without exchanging a single word. Whether it be sister intuition or some kind of sixth sense that only girls with sisters are born with, it didn't matter, Anna was there for Elsa at the time she needed Anna the most and gave Elsa exactly what she needed more than anything else at the time…

A shoulder to cry on.

* * *

><p>The Wizard made his way towards the mysterious clouds that seemed to be rotating around a room itself, a room that had somehow survived the outright collapse of what was once Leo's castle. As the Wizard drew closer to the room though, the twisting clouds around the room appeared to be slowing down and shrinking when just seconds ago they looked to be growing.<p>

As the Wizard made his way towards the door, he strained his eyes to see through the whipping winds that the mini storm were conjuring. They grew stronger as he drew closer, but then began to fade once he stopped to peer inside the room. Inside, he saw Elsa and her sister holding each other while kneeling on the floor, with Kristoff watching over them close by. The winds the Wizard felt outside were also coming out of the room itself, it was as if the young girl was bending mother nature around her, and not even doing so on purpose.

_There is some very strange magic going on here…._

Rather then barge in and disturb what appeared to be a very delicate situation, the Wizard chose to wait outside until it looked like it was over, making sure not to draw any attention to himself.

* * *

><p>After what was the longest ten minutes anyone in the room had every experienced in their life, the howling winds of the storm finally subsided as Elsa calmed down, having exhausted herself to the point that she couldn't feel anything. Letting all of the emotion pour out, all of the emotion that had been bottled up not just from watching Leo pass away, but from all the stresses of being Queen and running an entire kingdom, all the emotions bottled up since the King Hans incident, all of it was released in one vicious emotional breakdown when it had all become too much to bear.<p>

Elsa paced her breathing and wiped away the tears from her eyes, feeling slightly embarrassed that everyone in the room had seen her episode. Anna helped her onto her feet, her knees shaking from sheer exhaustion.

"I… I'm okay now…." - Elsa sheepishly muttered, her voice barely above a shy whisper.

"OKAY, YOU CAN COME IN NOW" - Olaf yelled out, throwing everyone off guard from the sudden loudness of his voice as Olaf bellowed to the Wizard outside of the room.

He poked an eye around the corner of the doorframe inside, where everyone had turned around to see who it was that Olaf was talking to. After making brief contact with everyone, the Wizard stood up straight, and casually slid into the room like a kid who had heard his parents say something they didn't mean for him to hear, and had subsequently been caught.

"I uh, I figured, that, it would be best to wait…." He mumbled.

"Wait, who are you?" - Kristoff

"You!… You?…..You!" - Anna said in shock, then confusion, and then anger.

"Who?" - Kristoff

"I wanna guess Smitty" - Olaf

"He's the Wizard, the guy who helped King Micheal kill Leo" - Anna clarified to a hopelessly confused Kristoff.

"Now wait before y'all go accusing me of stuff let me say I know that I messed up, really, REALLY badly" - The Wizard started, raising both of his hands up in protest.

"No DUH you messed up! All of this around you, all of what happened here was because of you!" - Anna angrily replied, consoling her still grieving sister.

"I know, I know, but please, just, hear me out, I know how to fix it. I know how to fix all of this." - The Wizard said, motioning with his hands for Anna to relax. "Look, I didn't know that King Micheal was an evil heartless monster for the past 20 years. I only recently put it all together about what he has really been trying to do, and believe me, I feel absolutely HORRIBLE for what happened here today….. But I know how to fix it."

"You're a little late im afraid… The castle is destroyed, Leo is dead, and King Micheal will have the entire town looking for us the moment he gets back to town... There isnt anything to make this situation better" - Kristoff

"Actually I could go for some ice cream and hot chocolate right about now... And some cake... My own personal cake..." - Olaf

"No trust me, I have a solution, and it's better then cake" - Wizard

"He's lying! We all know that there isn't ANYTHING better than cake….." - Olaf said, suddenly becoming suspicious.

"Olaf shush" - Annaa said in an irritated voice. "What do you mean you know how to fix this?…..fix,_ this?"_

The Wizard pulled out a little baggy he had snatched from his hut before he had left. "I read in a book of dark magic that it is actually possible to bring back to life the soul of a recently deceased person, if that person is deemed worthy by the man in the moon to be granted a second chance."

"Man in the moon?" - Axis asked

"Yes, the man in the moon. Its a long story, but now is not the time, maybe later. Anyways, I know how to perform a spell that if done right would bring Leo back to life." - Wizard.

"wait, REALLY?!" - Anna and Axis chimed in unison, both of them becoming overcome with glee while Elsa's heart fluttered back to life. Kristoff and Olaf were blown away by the claim as well

"Wait a minute... I don't know much about dark magic, but I DO know that if something sounds too good to be true, then there has to be some sort of a catch….." - Kristoff said, immediately suspicious of the Wizard.

The Wizard nodded. "Yes, it wouldn't be considered 'Dark Magic' if there weren't some diabolical part of the spell….. See, in order for the spell to work, it requires us to perform a ritual and enter the Netherworld, the land where the souls of the dead wander."

"Well that only sounds completely horrifying…. Go on" - Olaf.

"The thing is, living souls aren't meant to be present in the netherworld, which means that during the spell, if you open your eyes before the spell is finished….. Then your soul will join the others and forever remain in the netherworld, and you'd be dead….." - The Wizard clarified

"Mhm, yeah, see I miss Leo and all, but i'm drawing the line short of 'risking everyone's lives to possibly get trapped in the land of the dead'…" - Kristoff bluntly stated.

"Well you'd be getting more than just Leo's soul back actually…. You see, if there are souls in the netherworld that recognize you, then they may come to you and offer you some words of wisdom or tell you something they didn't get the chance to tell you before they died…." - the Wizard

"Wait, what?" - Anna

"Who in the 'Netherworld' would recognize any of us?" - Elsa asked, just as bewildered by the Wizards claim as Anna was.

"Oh there's lots of people who could recognize you in the Netherworld. Dead relatives, dead friends, dead relatives of dead friends, dead friends of dead relatives…. Mostly dead relatives though…." - Wizard

"Mom and Dad!" Anna whispered loudly, exchanging nervous glances with Elsa. Kristoff also became intrigued at the possibility of his own parents recognizing him in the Netherworld and trying to talk to him too.

"Those who are already dead will be able to talk to you, and you'll be able to hear them, but you won't be able to talk back to them, they simply won't hear you. Most importantly though is to not open your eyes, otherwise you'll die." - Wizard.

Everyone now exchanged glances with each other, the prospect of instantaneous death combined with the possibility of hearing those you love talk to you one last time…. _What price could you put on either of those things?_ All eyes eventually turned to Elsa, waiting for her to decide what to do.

Elsa was intrigued, and kept questioning the Wizard about the procedure.

"Should we agree to do this spell, what is it we would have to do?" - Elsa asked

"Oh that's simple. I just do a few things with these ingredients here, we all hold hands in a circle, and then we just make sure not to open our eyes until the spell is over….." - Wizard.

"And that's it, that's all that has to be done?" - Elsa asked

"Yes…. Wait… Actually, technically no" - Wizard

"What does 'technically no' mean here?" - Kristoff

"Well, the spell does require that two people be sacrificed in order to bring back a single person… BUT I HAVE A—"

"Wait WHAT? Uh-uh, no, we are NOT sacrificing anybody here, that is final!" - Kristoff said, cutting off the wizard mid sentence.

"Yeah I agree, human sacrifice is a bit of a red flag in my book" - Anna added as Axis nodded behind her.

"Wait, why is it that TWO people who need to be sacrificed... Is it in case we leave the first sacrifice at home or something?" - Olaf asked

"Yeah why does the spell require TWO sacrifices? It does seem rather weird." - Axis

"I know a way to get around it! You guys have to let me FINISH… First off, one of the people who has to be sacrificed HAS to include the person casting the spell in the first place…. Two souls are required because it takes one soul to actually go to the netherworld to retrieve a soul, and it takes the other to be used to repair any damage done to the soul that we are trying to retrieve in the first place…. Since I am the one casting this spell, one of the sacrifices would naturally be me in this scenario." - Wizard.

A silence hung in the room as everyone tried to accept what the Wizard had snuck into his clarification

"Wait…. You, you are willing to sacrifice yourself to bring back Leo?…." - Axis asked, bewildered more than anyone else.

The Wizard took a deep sigh. "I didn't realize how good of a person that Leo actually was until I saw his body here after he had passed. I didn't realize how King Micheal had used by rabid desire for redemption to turn me into his own weapons forge for the past 15 years. I didn't realize how much of everything that has happened was my own fault…. I'm willing to pay the price, the ultimate price, if it means finally settling the score though…. So yes, I am prepared to sacrifice myself to bring back Leo." - The Wizard

Everyone stood in silence, both stunned and somewhat admired by how devoted the Wizard was to fixing his mistake.

"Well wait, even if you choose to sacrifice yourself, we're still one sacrifice short…." - Olaf

"I volunteer" - Axis

Everyone whipped around. "Axis? No, no Axis you can't sacrifice yourself to bring back Leo" - Elsa protested

"Yeah, you can't…" - The Wizard said.

"Leo has been my master and my commander my whole life. It was my duty to lay down my life to save his if that ever became the case, and I am willing to do so right there and right now." - Axis proudly stated

"No guys, listen, it has to be a HUMAN sacrifice... Besides, I already have someone we could use instead..." - The Wizard interrupted

Everyone turned back around. "Well, who else could be used as a sacrifice to bring back Leo?" - Anna asked first.

The wizard let a sly grin creep over his face as he reached into his pocket. He then pulled out a pinch of medium lengthen brown hairs that he had saved from a prior experiment, the hairs belonging to someone that could be used to solve their current dilemma.

"In my hand I hold the hairs of none other than King Micheal, which means that we could use HIM to be the second sacrifice to bring back Leo." - Wizard

* * *

><p>Everyone quietly gasped, but all for different reasons as they weighed the options of using King Micheal as a sacrifice to bring back Leo.<p>

"That means we could _easily_ escape from here!" - Kristoff

"That means we really _can_ bring back Leo!" - Elsa

"Is this _really_ the right thing to do?" - Anna

"...*cricket chirps*..." - Olaf

They all exchanged glances and each of them gave their new opinions on whether or not they felt that they should go through with it.

"I'm totally up for this now" - Kristoff admitted

"But just a second ago you were completely against it!" - Anna

"Yeah, that was before I found out that this both brings back Leo AND takes care of King Micheal" - Kristoff

"But if we do the spell, then we put all of our lives at risk" - Olaf

"As long as King Micheal is alive, all of our lives ARE at risk" - Axis

"I'm for the spell too" - Elsa

"Wait, what?" - Anna

"I know that it may not be the most ethical or unbiased thing to do, but this scenario offers us the cleanest and quickest solution to get out of here once and for all, with Leo." - Elsa

"But if we open our eyes then... Then we'll _die_" - Anna

"Then don't open your eyes!" - Kristoff

"You say that like it's easy!" - Anna

"It IS easy, just think of something you would NEVER want to see in a MILLION years" - Kristoff

"Yeah! Like watching Sven take a dump!" - Olaf

"Ew... EEEWWW..." - Anna said, fighting the image out of her head

"See, that'll work perfectly!" - Kristoff

"Alright, All in favor of going through with the spell say I" - Elsa

"I" - Olaf, Axis, Kristoff, and Elsa, Anna being the only defector.

"But it doesn't seem like the right thing to do! I mean not only is this risky, but who are we to just decide what to do with King Micheal's life?…." - Anna

"Anna….. Imagine if it were Hans instead…" - Kristoff

Anna paused, reflecting on the Kristoff's question.

"Okay but it's still risky". It didn't take her long to come around.

"Anna... I don't know much about 'feelings'... " Olaf started, "But a wise man once said, 'some people are worth melting for'... I forget his name, but sometimes if you truly love someone, you would do whatever it takes to help them, or to get them back."

Olaf continued, pointing at Kristoff. "Kristoff rode through a raging blizzard and over a frozen sea that was breaking under his feet to save you." He pointed at Anna "You jumped in front of a sword being swung by Hans just to save your sister even though she had frozen your heart that same day." He pointed to the wizard. "He is willing to sacrifice his life right now to bring back Leo KNOWING that he wont make it... And now, Elsa needs us all to be willing to risk it all again to bring back Leo..."

"Olaf stop" - Elsa spoke up, stopping Olaf from finishing his point.

"Wh-what?..." - Olaf asked

"I know that I want Leo back more than almost anything else in the world right now... But I don't want to force you into risking your life if you don't want to. It should only ever be your choice to do something risky, not because of what everyone else is doing..." - Elsa stated, seemingly at war with herself over bring back Leo and keeping everyone else safe. "You're my sister, and I would always prefer to have you by my side than anyone else..."

"But... But then what about Leo?" - Anna asked

Elsa bottom lip quivered, and her eyes immediately teared up, her emotions gave her away. She wasn't prepared to let him go, even though letting go had been her whole life motto. To choose between never seeing Leo again, or getting him back at the risk of losing her own sister, she knew she ultimately would choose Anna, that wasn't the problem... The problem was that no matter what her choice would have been, she would still be devastated to never see Leo again, and she could never force Anna to risk her life against her will all over a guy that Elsa had known for barely 3 days...

So Anna gave her permission.

"I'll do it." - She blurted out before thinking it out.

"No, don't say you will just because-" - Elsa started

"I WANT to Elsa... I can tell that this means a lot to you, I mean, like, a LOT to you, probably more than I may ever understand..." - Anna said, walking towards Elsa who had turned away from her. "But you once asked me how devastated I would be if something ever happened to Kristoff... And I didn't even want to imagine such a thing... But the way you reacted when I asked if you could let Leo go, that was the _exact same_ reaction I felt. I don't think I could ever cope with having to move on from Kristoff if something happened to him, and I'm willing to bet that you would do anything you had to do in order to bring him back if he did die. Right?" - Anna asked

Elsa calmed down a little and nodded ever so slightly. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that she would do anything to bring back Kristoff for Anna if it meant risking her life.

"If you are willing to do that for me, then I am willing to do this for you." Anna said, giving Elsa a bear hug while she was still turned around, both of them tearing up.

After the touching moment, the two reassured each other and then turned back towards the Wizard. "So what do we have to do?" - Elsa asked.

"Simple. 1) Stand in a circle and hold hands. 2) Don't open your eyes. 3) DON'T open your eyes. and 4) SERIOUSLY, DO. NOT. OPEN. YOUR. EYES." - The Wizard said, preparing the hairs and powder on the ground in front of his feet.

"Okay sounds good, what should we expect? Like, feeling wise?" - Kristoff.

"Well first it will feel like you're suddenly falling or flying, I forget which. After a while you will come to a dead stop, and hear the voices of any deceased people who recognize you. The hairs of Leo in the spell will lead us to him and bring him back, so you guys don't have to do anything, except to keep your eyes closed." - Wizard

"Okay, got it. So what should I do with my eyes when this whole thing happens?" - Olaf asked

"Olaf just imagine the sun beating against your face while you relax at the beach" - Anna

"Oh, OKAY!" - Olaf said with a huge grin. He then clamped his eyes shut, stood in place, and held out his arms. Everyone else took their places, held hands, and clenched their eyes shut as well.

The Wizard then finished arranging the ingredients on the ground before him, joined the circle, and performed the spell, chanting the words with extreme caution.

"Netherworld, oh Netherworld,  
>Home of all that is dead,<br>We come to you to seek the one,  
>whose name shall soon be said.<br>He wasn't of age, it wasn't his time  
>It was too early for him to die,<br>To claim that it's better to leave him be  
>Would be a terrible, terrible lie.<br>And so Netherworld, we come to you  
>Not seeking just any Jane or Jack<br>it is Leo you see, who we must set free  
>It is he who we must bring back"<p>

The spell was cast, and everyone who stood in the circle with their eyes closed and while holding hands, which was everyone except Axis, suddenly felt as if the ground from underneath them had given away, and that they were falling through the skies themselves.

Then, darkness…


	28. Chapter 28: Secrets and Revelations

Elsa let out a scream, as she could no longer feel anyone's hands she was holding and felt as if she was falling down a deep, dark crevice in the Earth. She could only feel the wind as she tumbled head over heels as she fell, but she didn't dare open her eyes. Instead, she managed to keep them clenched shut even tighter.

Then, she felt herself slowing down. The wind no longer pelted her as she fell, and gravity slowly seemed to be weakening. After a few seconds, Elsa soon felt as if she was now floating in space itself, wondering what would happen next.

She kept her eyes shut and relied on her other senses to pick up any information. She heard the faintest mumblings coming from a distance, just barely audible enough for her to hear, but not nearly enough to make out what they were saying. They sounded similar to a party going on downstairs in a house while you were upstairs, where you could tell that people were there, but nothing else.

Then, a Elsa singled out a single voice that grew progressively louder. It was soft, one that Elsa hadn't heard in a long time, but one that she could never forget even if she lived to be 5000 years old.

It was the voice of her father.

"Dad?" Elsa called out, before remembering from the wizard that he wouldn't be able to hear her. Elsa was so tempted to crack open one eye, as she could hear with 90% certainty the voice was her father's, but she couldn't make out what he was saying.

_Keep it together Elsa, be patient._

She calmed down and focused on listening as hard as she possibly could.

"Elsa... Elsa, is it... Is it really you?" It was her father alright. He sounded the same as he always did, and he sounded as if he was in complete disbelief that he was seeing her.

He wasted no time.

"Elsa, I don't know if you can hear this, or what is going on right now, but, there is always something I wanted to tell you, and I don't think I'll get another chance after right now."

"When I met your mother, I was still relatively young. 20ish. It was at a royal party for my father, who was having dignitaries from all over the land gather for some anniversary of something. I fell in love with your mother immediately, even though she was well outside the 'social realm' that the rest of the royal family would have found acceptable. I didn't care though. Your mother was unlike any other hollow woman I had met. She was so remarkably different from everyone else. Humble, but beautiful, smart, but open-minded, shy, yet assertive when she wanted to be... I would have done anything to have her."

"We snuck out of the party, snuck around the castle, and talked all night. I was head-over-heels in love with her, and she was in love with me, though she could hide it a lot better than I did... It was then I revealed to her something that only a very, very few number of people knew about... That I had powers to, make and control fire."

"WAIT WHAT?" - Elsa yelled out upon hearing her father say he had powers. _My father had FIRE powers? How did I end up with ice powers then? How come I never saw my dad use his powers before?... FIRE POWERS!?_

"When I told her about, about my powers... She completely freaked out. She probably thought I was some sort of monster. I tried to show her that it was okay and that I could control it, and that I wasn't a monster, but it didn't work... In fact the sight of it only freaked her out that much more" her dad continued.

"Her family stayed at the castle for about another week, and every day I would try to find your mother and apologize, try to make up for what I did, try to win her back. But, the powers, it was too much for her to accept, and she felt that she wasn't of nobel enough origin to even be wed to me. I explained to her that as the only heir to the throne to Arendelle, nobody could protest to us being together, but she still protested me having fire powers, saying that she just couldn't be with someone who had fire powers."

Elsa's heart had almost stopped. Her dad's story was heartbreaking, she had never heard the details about how Dad met mom, especially that her father had fire powers too!

He went on. "I knew that if I was going to have any chance to be with her, I would have to get rid of my fire powers. I had grown fond of them, and they made me feel confident and even powerful, a worthy heir to the throne, but they had to go if I was to win the heart of your mother... And so one night, the night before she was to leave, I went out to the woods. I looked for the trolls that lived there seeking their help so that they... So that they could remove my powers.

"No!..." Elsa gasped in horror. How could her father give up his powers, the ones he had actually liked having, just to be with mom?

"The trolls in the woods don't normally grant wishes, but they made an exception for me because I was royalty, and I struck a deal with them that if they would help me, I would ensure that their homeland would always remain isolated from any kind of human development... I explained my situation to them, and they agreed to remove my powers, ensuring me that I could come back and regain them if for some reason your mother still wouldn't accept me. This whole experience was how I knew to go to the trolls and where to find them when you had your accident with Anna..."

"But as for the actual event, losing my powers made me feel... Empty. Like a piece of myself was lost or removed. I didn't feel as confident, or as passionate, and I didn't act on impulse as much, but I still went after your mother... I would have done anything just to have a chance to be with her, and I pretty much did."

"I caught her near the front gate, standing still as if she was waiting for someone. I went over to her and pulled her off to the side, where I told her that I got rid of my powers. I had never been so nervous in my life, because I had done everything I could to try to win her heart, and I was terrified if it still wasn't going to be enough... But it was. She was so moved that I had given up my powers just to try to be with her that she finally accepted how much I was in love with her, and so she stayed, and we ended up getting married...

He took a deep sigh of relief, then went on. "When I found out you had powers, I was worried, as I had set countless things on fire when I was younger trying to control my powers, and I only barely didn't burn down the entire kingdom several times. My parents handled my problem by basically sending me away from the castle for months at a time so that I could practice my powers as I wished far away from anybody else, but that only made me grow more addicted to using them. It was rather intoxicating to see how powerful you can be when you had powers, and it was only after I had almost set the entire woods on fire did I realize that I had to use my powers as little as possible. Thats why after the accident with Anna, I tried to do the opposite of what my parents did with me since letting me run wild with my powers didn't work."

"I never meant to make things worse, or make you feel bad for having your powers or anything like that..." - He went on

"Dad, no, you were just doing what you thought was right!" - Elsa protested, but he didn't hear her.

"I only tried to do what I thought what would work. Fire and ice are so different that I probably should have guessed that what didn't work for me might have worked for you, but understand that I never meant to make things worse and that if I could give you one final piece of advice, it would be this: Your powers are a part of who you are. Your mother was worth giving my powers up, but I was a different person without them, and I always reminisced about having them back after not having them. If you try to get rid of your powers, and I hope you don't, only do so if its absolutely necessary to get something far more valuable in exchange..."

Elsa, moved by everything she just heard, suddenly felt as if she was beginning to fall again, and she no longer heard her father saying anything.

"Dad, wait, Dad!" She reached out her hand, trying to grab hold of anything. She needed to know more, more about, everything! She needed to hear her father's voice just a little longer...

She began to fall faster, and as the winds began to howl in her ears, she cracked one eye open, and was greeted with a blinding light.

* * *

><p>Anna let out a scream, as she could no longer feel anyone's hands she was holding and felt as if she was falling down a deep, dark crevice in the Earth. She could only feel the wind as she tumbled head over heels as she fell, but she didn't dare open her eyes. Instead, she managed to keep them clenched shut even tighter.<p>

Then, she felt herself slowing down. The wind no longer pelted her as she fell, and gravity slowly seemed to be weakening. After a few seconds, Anna soon felt as if she was now floating in space itself, squirming around trying to grab a hold or feel of anything. The sudden loss of gravity also wasn't sitting well with her stomach, but she focused most of all on keeping her eyes shut.

Then she heard the voices.

Faint again, Anna struggled to make them out, failing to do so, and eventually hearing one of the voices coming closer and closer to her. It wasnt until the voice sounded as if it was being spoken right in front of her did Anna finally make them out.

"Anna!" a familiar voice called out

"... Mom?" - Anna responded

"What are, how did, are you okay?" her mom asked. Anna was in tears that she could hear her mother's voice, and at the same time still feeling nauseous from the loss of gravity. She tried to say something in response, but she didnt know what to say. She couldn't even emit any kind of sound.

"Anna, I dont know if you can hear me, but if you can, there's something I think you should know... Something that happened a long time ago between me and your father..."

Anna stopped squirming around and held perfectly still, hanging on every word her mother was saying.

"I met your father at a royal gathering well before he ever would become King. I was apart of a delegation from another kingdom that came only because of concern over fishing rights over a disputed stretch of water, or something. It was so long ago I cant even remember. But I remember very clearly that your father fell madly in love with me the very first time he laid eyes on me, and I admittedly swooned for him."

"Okay, ew, I get it, keep going" - Anna said, her stomach writhing even more as her mother described her first encounter with her father. It wasn't the thought of her two parents falling in love that made her feel sicker, it was the immediate flashback to how she and Hans met much the same way that was making her feel worse.

She went on. "He soon made his way over to me and became infatuated with anything I had to say. He wanted to know everything about me. Where I was from, why I was there, what I thought of the castle... It almost felt like I was the one hosting the party and he was my guest!... But then one night, I cant remember if it was that very night or one of the ones after, _he showed me that he had fire powers._

"WHAT!?" - Anna yelled out, the words from her mother hitting her like a thrown brick. DAD HAD FIRE POWERS?

"It, it freaked me out so much that I immediately thought we could never be together, and I spent as much time trying to avoid him because I thought it could never be"

"Hold on, whoa, back up to the part about dad HAVING FIRE POWERS please?" - Anna said, still hung up on it.

"But no matter where I hid or where I tried to seclude myself, he would always track me down and try to explain to me that it was okay, that he wasn't a monster or anything. But I, I just couldn't deal with the fact that he was a firebender, it seemed like the most horrible thing that could have happened.

"Wait, why weren't you okay with it?" Anna asked,

"Then on one of the very last nights, I witnessed your father, the Prince at the time, leave the castle in the middle of the night, alone... I thought he was going off to do something foolish for me or was simply running away, so I got up and set out to follow him... He went out to the stables, got on horseback, and then rode out of the castle grounds completely... And again, I followed him."

"Wow mom, I didnt know you were an adventurous young lass?" - Anna said, impressed that her mother, who she only ever remembered from her childhood as the most careful and reserved person in the world (apart from maybe Elsa) actually rode out from another person's castle to follow someone else out of sheer curiosity.

"I followed him deep, deep into the woods, until he came to a stop in the middle of a clearing that were surrounded by what appeared to be rocks. Except, well, they werent rocks..."

"Uh-oh" Anna said, knowing where this was going.

"They were actually trolls..."

"What was he visiting the trolls for?" - Anna asked.

"I watched from afar and could only barely make out what he was requesting. Even though he wasnt the king, he was still royalty, and so the trolls granted him one wish... And he wished that the trolls could take away his fire powers.

"WHAT?!" -Anna shrieked again, mortified that her father would do such a crazy thing. "Wh-why would he do something as stupid as that?"

Her mother went on. "He asked them to get rid of his fire powers because he wanted to be with me, and he thought that I didn't love him because I was scared of his fire powers."

"Aww crap..." Anna said, suddenly feeling really bad for implying that her dad giving up his powers for her mom was somehow stupid.

"It was the hardest thing for me to watch him do. I felt horrible that he would give up such a gift just to be with me, when he didnt even know the truth... And the truth was that I had water powers.

The words sank in, and Anna just didn't know what to think anymore. "Okay are you messing with me at this point? Because I feel like you're messing with me" Anna asked, almost annoyed that seemingly everyone in her family except her had possessed some kind of cool wicked power of some sorts...

"I wasn't scared that your father had fire powers because it wasn't normal, or magical... It was because as someone who had water powers, I thought that it could never be, as fire and water are complete opposites. The rest of his family already didnt take kindly to me because I wasnt as 'royal' as they would have preferred, and the water vs fire thing only made me feel that being with your father was that much more impossible... I didn't tell him that me having water powers was the reason I didn't think we could be together because I figured that I could just, wait until I had to go back to my homeland, and then that would be the end of it... But it didn't come soon enough. I should have told him the truth..."

"Wow, you really DID have water powers then?" - Anna asked, amazed that what she was saying was actually true. "Wait, then how come you and dad didnt-"

She was cut off, as her mother continued the story. "I felt so horrible that you father would do something as courageous as giving up his powers to try to be with me, when I couldn't even be brave enough to tell him the truth of why I didn't think I could be with him... So, I returned the favor."

"huh?" - Anna asked, not following.

"After your father got back on his horse and made his way back to the castle, I came out of hiding and approached the trolls while they were still, well, not rocks, and asked them to do the same thing to me as they did to your dad."

"WHAT? Oh come on, why?" - Anna asked, feeling pained by how tragic this story was getting

"I wouldn't have been able to live with myself being with your father after he gave up his powers if I still had mine, because it wouldn't be fair to him. So, I begged the trolls to take away my powers so that I could be with your father. They didn't normally grant wishes to people, but they made an exception for me just because of the tragic circumstances that I was now in. And they did it. They removed my powers..."

Her mother paused, and Anna didn't know what else to say. She could tell that losing her powers was a really big deal for her mother.

"Losing your powers, above everything else, made me feel so empty inside... Like I wasn't even myself anymore, even though I still was. I imagine that your father felt the same way after he gave up his powers as well... The next day, I waited for him by the gate so that I knew he could find me, and sure enough he did. He pulled me off to the side and told me that he had given up his powers because he wanted to be with me... I wanted to tell him the truth about what I did, but I couldn't get over how he had absolutely no regrets over giving up his powers just to be with me. All I could do was cry and hug him."

She paused, catching her breath as she fought back the emotion that built up in her voice just retelling the story.

"When Elsa had ice powers, I freaked out because I thought she had gotten them from me, and your father freaked out because he thought it was his doing, but we both kept an open mind. He explained to me that casually experimenting with his powers helped him get control them best, whereas I was raised to try to hold my powers all inside and never let them out. Neither solution was perfect, but I couldn't tell your father about what I experienced, so I just went with his lead."

"It seemed to work pretty well at first. Elsa only ever cared about having as much fun with you as possible, and although she would accidentally freeze something every few days your father and I felt that it was the best thing to do... But then after the accident, where Elsa accidentally hurt you, your father and I freaked out quite a bit. After the meeting with the trolls, he believed that the 'keep it all in' strategy was the best, even though it didn't work for me. Again I didn't say anything. I thought maybe that Elsa had enough of her father in her where she could better control her powers than I did at her age that it would actually work, and up until your father and I perished at sea, it did..."

"Actually about that..." - Anna said, recalling the time Elsa accidentally almost froze all of Arendelle when she lost control of her powers three years later.

"We were always the most concerned about you though, Anna" her mother interrupted, stopping Anna in her tracks.

"What?... Me?... But, but why?"

"Your father was always worried that Elsa might accidentally hurt you again, and also that working on trying to keep her powers hidden would force him to spend more time with her rather than with you. I was worried that you had some powers of your own though, as I was certain you would have given that your father and I were born with powers of our own. You were also rather clumsy and accident prone too, which only made it that much crazier..."

"Heh, maybe being awkward actually IS my power" - Anna awkwardly replied, trying to lighten the mood while still not fully realizing her mother couldn't actually hear her.

"The reason I'm telling you this Anna is because I learned that its best to truly treasure who you are and what you have. People are prone to giving up what they have before realizing how valuable it really is, and losing things before they could really appreciate how much it meant to them... Elsa confided in me and to her father several times that she wished she didn't have powers anymore, but we both knew that we couldn't let her do such a thing. Her powers make her special and amazing even if she doesn't always appreciate them, and she should never, ever want to get rid of them. Please make sure she doesn't Anna, please." Her mother finished, her voice starting to fade away.

"Mom, wait, mom, speak up, I think you're drifting away!" - Anna freaked out, flailing out for anything to grab on.

Her voice kept fading, repeating over and over to make sure Elsa never gave up her powers. Anna cried out for her mother, flailing to try to grab a hold of a limb or anything. She then felt like she was falling again. Slowly at first, then full speed.

The winds began to howl in her ears as she fell, and Anna accidentally cracked open one of her eyes, seeing nothing but a blinding light.

* * *

><p>Everything happened to fast that he couldn't really understand where he was, all he could do was remember to keep his eyes closed no matter what.<p>

Other then that, Olaf was having the time of his life.

"WOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOO" He yelled out as he was free-falling, having no concern for possibly crashing into the ground. He did a variety of twists and movements as he gracefully fell through the sky as if he was a world-class skydiver.

Then, it felt like he was slowing down. A little at first, then by a lot. Soon he felt like he was floating.

"HEY, WHO TURNED OFF THE GRAVITY?" - Olaf angrily called out, crossing his arms and frowning as he drifted through time and space with nothing to do. He heard voices in the distance, but didn't think much of it... "Its not polite to whisper!" Olaf called out, seeing if he could make the voices go away.

One voice seemed to be getting louder and louder though, as if it was approaching him.

"I said, ITS NOT POLITE TO WHISPER!" Olaf yelled out. "Also, could you find the dingus who turned off the gravity, I was in the middle of doing something here!" he added

"Olaf?" the voice suddenly asked

"Do I know you?" Olaf replied.

"Olaf, it is me, God..."

Olaf was stunned.

"Really?" was all he could say

"Nah I'm just messing with you, this is your older brother! Gustav!"

"Oh cool! Wait, I HAVE A BROTHER!?" Olaf shrieked in glee. He had always wanted an older brother!

"Yeah you have a brother, how have you been man?" - Gustav asked

"Wait, you can hear me?" - Olaf asked

"Well yeah, why wouldn't I be able to hear you?" - Gustav

"Well, the magic man told me that the voices that spoke to us wouldn't be able to hear us talk" - Olaf

"OH, oh wait, you mean then you're still alive?" - Gustav asked, surprised that Olaf was still alive

"I think so, though I don't really understand anything anymore... Should I open my eyes?" - He asked

"I think we should play it safe and just have you keep them closed, since you're not dead and all that" - Gustav

"Good point... So how come I've never met you?" - Olaf

"Probably because you're attached to a different spirit then I was" - Gustav

"Ah, that makes sense..." Olaf remarked "Actually, it doesn't make any sense at all" he added

"Oh, here let me explain" - Gustav started. "All people who have magical ice powers have a companion of some sorts that will come to them at a time of great need to help them when they need help the most... The spirit you are attached to is Elsa, and i'm guessing you came to life at a really important time..."

"Not really, only when Elsa lost control of her powers and accidentally froze over the entire town." - Olaf

"... Right. Anyways, all magical ice beings get a companion in a time of need, which can come in the form of a snowman, or an ice spider, or some other form of magic that related to ice." - Gustav

"Oh, like, like an ICE SPIDER!" - Olaf

"... Yyyyyeah." Gustav replied, a little concerned about Olaf's empty-headedness.

"Okay. Its funny because I actually know a guy who is an ice spider who is a close friend of someone with ice powers..." - Olaf clarified

"Oh, you mean Axis?" - Gustav

"I think so. I can't be sure, I wasn't really paying attention when he said his name... Have you seen a guy named Leo around here by any chance?" - Olaf asked.

"You mean that kid with ice powers? He actually was here a second ago but now people can't seem to find him..." - Gustav

"Ah well, I guess we missed him. We'll have to try again next time I suppose." - Olaf

"Try what next time?" - Gustav

"Hey random question" Olaf started, ignoring Gustav, "Who was the person whose soul was the one you were attached to?"

"Me? Oh, I was the companion of this young woman a long time ago named Eren, who was about to get married to this guy named Eric who had ice powers just like Eren did" - Gustav

"Oh cool, do you think they are somehow related to Elsa or Leo by any chance?" - Olaf asked.

"Not related like you may think, but they are all tied together from what I understand. Eren and Eric were meant to be together, but they never got the chance to because they died in a blizzard on their way to get married."

"Oh wow that's horribly tragic. Continue." - Olaf casually remarked

"When they died, legend has it that their souls drifted and then merged with the souls of two other people, who later got ice powers of their own. These two new people are meant to be together and live the life that Eric and Eren never got to have, otherwise they will never truly be at peace. The two souls of Eren and Eric probably ended up in Elsa and Leo respectively." - Gustav

"Neat" was all Olaf bothered to say.

"Yep. That's about it really" - Gustav

"Okay so how do I get out of here?' - Olaf asked.

"Um, I think that you'll feel like your falling again, and then just sort of, wake up, or something, I'm not really sure though, you want me to go and ask someone real quick" - Gustav said

"Nah thats alright, its not that important. It was really nice to meet you!" - Olaf said

"It was nice to meet you too man, stay cool!" - Gustav

"I will, I'm a snowman!"

The two laughed, and Olaf could feel himself slowly begin to fall again as Gustav's voice joined the others in the distance. He began to fall faster and faster and soon was back to twirling and somersaulting like a gymnast just like he was before. He lost his train of focus when a random thought then leaped into his head.

_Wait, did I set Kristoff's clothes in the laundry bin when we left, or the trash bin?_

Olaf cracked an eye open as he suddenly realized that he had indeed left Kristoff's clothes in the trash bin, not the laundry bin. He couldn't see a thing in the split second his eye was open though, all he could see was a light so bright that it was almost blinding.


End file.
